La Crosse police getting body cams soon

Dept. been waiting over a year

In La Crosse, police body cams are in. They’re just not quite ‘on.’ 

New body cameras for cops are waiting for a software update before becoming operational.

“We’re relying on a vendor,” Abraham said. “We’re ready to roll. I would say hopefully in the next 30 days we would have some body cams out there running.”

The department has been planning on getting body cams for more than a year.

Unfortunately, notes Abraham, nearly every other police department in the nation appears to have been planning the same thing. The incredible demand has led to the long delays in actually getting the cameras.

Everyone involved also wanted to make sure to get things right.

“The company wanted to make sure they had all the bugs worked out,” Abraham said. “They took their time getting it to market because they wanted to get it right.

“We wanted to stick with the same vendor that we have (with our squad car video), because we wouldn’t have to purchase different software and becoming familiar with all that.”