Joliet eyes first body cameras for police in 2022

The Joliet Police Department would be equipped with body cameras in 2022 if the City Council approves a pending contract.

The council’s Public Safety Committee on Tuesday will review a 44-month contract with Axon Enterprises to equip the police department with body cameras for the first time. The contract calls for 275 body cameras at a cost of more than $1 million.

The city would begin implementing 22 body cameras as soon as this year to begin testing the program with full implementation planned for February.

“This is something that’s needed for everyone’s protection, both citizens and police,” Public Safety Committee Chairwoman Jan Quillman said Friday.

Quillman noted police body cameras are being mandated by the state.

Joliet police would be equipped a year ahead of the 2023 deadline set for cities with populations of more than 100,000 in the state law enacted this year.

Public pressure to equip Joliet police with body cameras mounted in 2020 amid calls for change in the wake of the death of Eric Lurry, who lapsed into a coma during the course of an arrest and died. Authorities determined Lurry’s death was caused by drugs he ingested during the course of his arrest. But activists said body cameras would have provided more detail about what happened in the case of Lurry and other arrests.

The Lurry case also sparked a civil rights investigation into practices and procedures of the Joliet Police Department, which was announced in September by the Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul.

The Public Safety Committee has been eying body cameras since 2019, and the city had been seeking a federal grant for funding.

“We can’t wait for that anymore,” Quillman said, noting the state mandate. “We have to move forward.”

The Axon contract would be paid in four installments through May 2024 and would need to be renewed to continue use of body cameras in the future.

Committee approval would send the contract to the full council for a vote, which would likely be at the Nov. 16 meeting.

The contract if approved would be paid through the city’s general fund, said David Braner, director of information technology for Joliet.

“It needed to be done, and we’re driving forward on it,” Braner said.

The initial 22 body cameras coming with approval of the contract will be used to test out the program and prepare for full implementation, Braner said.

“In February, we’re going to get a shipment for all the body cameras,” he said.