LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Officers with the Jeffersonville Police Department will soon be equipped with body cameras again, pending city council approval.

Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore says the Board of Public Works and Safety approved a contract Wednesday morning to purchase the cameras from Scottsdale, Arizona-based Axon Enterprises Inc.

"I want everybody to see what our officer sees," he said. "The good, the bad, the ugly, I want to be able to see it."

Jeffersonville's city council still has to approve funding for the program.

Those cameras will be assigned to each uniformed patrol officer from the rank of sergeant through patrolman, the police department told WDRB News.

Moore says 75 out of 88 officers in the department will wear the cameras. He says this will include all of the officers who would be out on patrol and would interact with the general public. 

"Our police department is already leading by example with 21st century policing practices," Moore said. "We're taking that even further with state-of-the-art body-worn cameras. This program will be part of the daily routine for our department as a way to boost accountability among our officers when interacting with the public."

Moore said the goal is to implement the program by the end of the summer.

"When our officers are called upon, the cameras will go on," said Police Chief Kenny Kavanaugh, in a statement. "They will be required to have their cameras on as part of our internal policy."

Chief Kavanaugh says the Jeffersonville Police Department had already been conducting a 10-camera pilot program to guide the implementation of the body cameras.

According to the news release, the cameras are always running and will automatically save the previous 30 seconds of video before the officer hits the activation button. Additionally, the cameras will activate automatically when weapons are removed from their holsters, or if other officers' cameras are activated within a certain range.

Policies will be put in place to discipline officers who fail to adhere to the body-worn camera operating procedures.

"I want to use this cutting-edge technology to ensure that our department remains transparent to the citizens it serves and protects," Moore said, in a statement. "It's an impressive system that is well worth the investment."

Moore says the program will cost $522,000. The cost will be paid over a five-year period, with new cameras added twice during that time period.

It's not the first time the Jeffersonville Police Department has tried using body cameras. In 2015, the department experimented with a short-lived body camera program that utilized 60 DutyVUE body cameras, manufactured by Roswell, Georgia-based Primal USA, LLC. After testing them for seven months, the department returned them in Feb. 2016, citing mechanical and technical issues.

"I think any time you implement something on this scale, I mean especially with electronics, you have to expect some sort of hiccup," Sgt. Isaac Parker of the Jeffersonville Police Department explained at the time.

Four months later, the department announced that it was suspending its body camera program, citing cost, court and criminals. 

Among the concerns was a state bill requiring that any Indiana police department using body cameras store the videos for a mandatory 6-9 months, and up to two years, if requested. That required a large video server for storage -- and at the time, Chief Kavanaugh said the department couldn't afford it. He added that the department didn't have the video equipment to cut, blur or edit footage, as needed.

Indiana state law hasn't changed, but the company providing the body camera technology has a more efficient way of storing the video for the appropriate time. The company, Axon, has the ability to use cloud based storage, enabling the department to be in compliance with state law, the department says.

"I'm very confident that this is going to lead to a safer Jeffersonville," Mayor Moore said.

The Jeffersonville Police Department told WDRB News that pending city council approval, it hopes to have all 75 officer equipped with body cams by the end of this fall.

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