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All Columbia police officers to wear body cameras

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FLICKR

The Columbia Police Department plans to outfit all of its uniformed officers with body cameras.

Assistant Chief John Gordon announced Thursday that the department has purchased 102 body cameras for its officers.

He says the cameras will help reduce assaults on officers, provide evidence in court cases and increase transparency with the public.

Gordon says the cameras plus hardware, installation and Evidence.com licenses cost $110,000.

The department also will pay $40,000 a year for maintenance and data storage with Evidence.com. Gordon says video for court cases will be stored until a prosecutor assigned to a case orders its destruction, and all other video will be deleted after 60 days.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports the cameras were purchased with a surplus in the 2012 budget.

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