OCEAN CITY – Ocean City’s police chief says he hopes to have a body-worn camera vendor selected by the start of next year.
At the Oct. 13 meeting of the Ocean City Police Commission, Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) Chief Ross Buzzuro provided officials with an update on the department’s implementation of a body-worn camera program.
“We continue to move forward with body-worn cameras,” he said.
Earlier this year, the Maryland General Assembly passed legislation mandating law enforcements agencies to use body-worn cameras by 2025.
In July, however, the OCPD announced plans to launch a program by the start of next season. Since that time, department officials have formed a committee, met with camera vendors and initiated a trial run of the body-worn camera program.
“We just finished one cycle with one vendor,” Buzzuro told commission members this week. “We’re now in the midst of another cycle with another vendor, of prototypes being in the field.”
Buzzuro said the department will be reviewing footage from those evaluations before selecting a vendor. He said the plan is to choose a company at the beginning of next year.
“So far, the sentiment has been very positive in terms of body-worn cameras,” he said, “where we are, where we’re at, where we’re moving to.”
Department staff have warned resort leaders initiating a body-worn camera system would be a costly endeavor for the town. But officials say they would work with the Eastern Shore delegation to explore funding options.
“It’s very important to get ahead of the game,” Councilman Lloyd Martin said this week. “I think we’re doing that very well.”
The police department’s aggressive campaign to launch a body-worn camera program came earlier this year, after a series of highly publicized Boardwalk incidents in which the agency’s use of force was called into question.
In two cases, attempts to issue citations for vaping on the Boardwalk ended with physical confrontations between OCPD officers and the suspects, and the online circulation of cellphone footage showing snippets of the incidents.
In the days that followed, the state’s Office of the Public Defender called on Ocean City’s police department to expedite its use of body-worn cameras
