Orlando Police Department replacing dash cams with body cams

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The Orlando Police Department (OPD) announced that they will be phasing out the dash cams on officer's patrol cars for body cams. 

OPD believes that the body cams do a better job of catching interactions with the public.

Orlando Police Chief John Mina told Fox 35 that the body cams will capture much more, as the "dash camera only captures what is in front of the car," as opposed to the body cams, which can capture "the officer wherever he or she goes."

However, due to costs of maintenance, age, and breakdown, the police department cannot afford to have both dash and body cams. They believe that the body cams will capture the widest and best view.

Mina went on to say that he was "surprised to find out how much it cost to actually maintain and keep all of those records on a server. We're used to a using a cloud or whatever to hold the data. But for you guys, it really gets costly to hold that information, doesn't it. And, it's very expensive. And that's one of the reasons we're going to focus on the body worn cameras."

However, dash cams are not completely vanishing. Mina says that they "will keep about 10 or 12 dash cameras in use for our DUI enforcement team. It's important to get the driver pattern."

OPD plans to first outfit the almost 500 first responders with body cams. From there, the rest of the department will receive them. This will be done via a federal grant, Mina reports.

OPD hopes this switch in camera is better for the city and the taxpayers.