The Michigan legislature passed the state budget Wednesday. It includes funds to provide body cameras to all Michigan State Police troopers.
State Representative Tyrone Carter, the minority vice chair of the committee overseeing the state budget, said body cams are mutually beneficial for the officers and the public at large.
“It is about accountability and creating that expectation you know, with the public, with the officers, with the public," he said. "It's been my experience, everybody acts differently when they know that being recorded."
Carter represents Southwest Michigan's 6th district and spent 25 years as an officer with the Wayne County Sheriff's Office. He said he supports the program.
“Every department, every officer, regardless of the size of the department, if there's public contact, should have a body camera, but I think that we start this with creating the standard with the state police, which is the standard." Carter said.
The bipartisan spending plan will also cover the cost of storing the information recorded by the cameras.
