Are Shreveport Police Officers Using Body-Worn Cameras?

With the New Orleans Police Department now being a step closer to being equipped with body-worn cameras, we wondered if any local law enforcement agencies were also utilizing the technology. Shreveport Police Sgt. Bill Goodin tells KEEL News that SPD has been testing out the cameras.

"We have had them for some time, and one of the issues we've had is we're having a hard time finding a product that's reliable enough to handle day-to-day, night-to-night, in-and-out duties of a police officer who can be very hard on equipment," Sgt. Goodin says. "We haven't really found anything the officers are comfortable using."

But he says the department is testing out at least one new model, and may be testing two before long. The newer technology will be given first to officers who patrol downtown Shreveport mainly on bicycles and horses, because they don't have access to the equipment that's in every patrol car on the street.

Sgt. Goodin says SPD wants to make sure it has the right equipment before spending money to hand out the body cameras to every officer. "We certainly feel that we have an obligation to the citizens we've sworn to serve, as well as to our employees, who are our most valuable resource, to provide that level of protection," he says. "So we're working diligently to make sure that we've got the right equipment."

Some of the issues the department has is how to download the data securely, how much data can be stored on one device, and how long the battery will last.