Local law enforcement agencies have taken a pledge of transparency, and the layers between the police and the public are about to become as clear as video.

A program aimed at equipping Ocean State law enforcement with body-worn cameras (BWCs) has made substantial progress since its launch last year.

The Warwick Police Department (WPD) is participating in a body worn camera pilot program.

Sixteen patrol officers started wearing Axon body cameras during their patrols.

According to a department press release, these officers represent each of the three patrol shifts, which will allow the department to have body worn cameras on the road 24 hours per day.

This pilot program is expected to last for approximately two months and will then be expanded to all front line patrol officers and field supervisors, Warwick Police said.

In accordance with the Rhode Island Police Chiefs’ Association Twenty for 2020 campaign, the Warwick Police Department explored the establishment of a body worn camera program and conducted extensive research into the logistics and funding. Along with other Rhode Island police agencies, the WPD is “committed to the program; believing that is an important step towards building police and community relationships and improving accountability within the communities that we serve,” reads the department release.

A “Body Warn Camera Policy” has been implemented during the pilot program to provide guidance to officers and to ensure compliance with the law.

The policy can be found on the department website. A Body Warn Camera recording is subject to the Rhode Island Access to Public Records Act (“APRA”), R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 38-2, and all requests for public access to a BWC recording shall be handled in accordance with that law, according to Warwick Police.

Meanwhile, Cranston and Johnston’s police departments are also gearing up to equip officers with cameras.

“The Johnston Police Department is still in the initial phases of implementing a body-worn camera program and we are committed to providing another layer of transparency and accountability to the public we proudly serve,” said Johnston Police Chief Joseph P. Razza. “We are in negotiations with a vendor and still looking at how much funding we will be receiving from the State of Rhode Island to implement the program. A state-wide policy governing the use of BWC’s was a critical element that has been overcome and once funding becomes available the process should speed up.”

Cranston’s Police Department is looking at several body cameras companies for 90 of the department’s officers. Chief of Police Col. Michael Winquist said Monday that officers up to the lieutenant rank will wear the cameras.

Cranston’s department will look at purchasing cameras once the statewide policy is finalized. Winquist believes the cameras will benefit both the department and public by increasing transparency and strengthening prosecutions through video footage. Cranston Police already participated in a pilot program back in 2018 using Axon body cameras — which are used across the country, as well as locally in Providence and Newport.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha and Colonel Darnell S. Weaver, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police and Director of Public Safety, recently announced the start of the formal notice and comment period for the draft regulation to establish a statewide policy for the use and operation of police body-worn cameras.

“Last summer, Rhode Island enacted a statewide program that aims to equip every frontline police officer and supervisor with body-worn cameras,” according to a press release from Neronha’s office. “As part of the program, the Attorney General and Director of the Department of Public Safety, in consultation with the Rhode Island Police Chiefs’ Association (RIPCA), were tasked with promulgating rules and regulations to create a statewide policy for the use and operation of body-worn cameras that participating departments will be required to adopt.”