The Edison Police Department wants to outfit officers with body cameras.
EDISON -- Long plagued by discipline problems at every rank, the Edison Police Department is seeking federal and state money to outfit its officers with 125 body cameras.
The devices will help hold police in the state's fifth-largest town accountable and exonerate them of frivolous complaints, the police chief and mayor say.
"It's about instilling the confidence in the police department from the community -- for the community to have confidence in the police department," Police Chief Thomas Bryan said in an interview.
Bryan said he predicted 20 years ago that police would be outfitted with body cameras, as portrayed in the 1992 Jean-Claude Van Damme movie "Universal Soldier."
The grants, Bryan said, are very competitive.
New Jersey has pledged millions to equip police officers with body cameras.
"Body-worn cameras are an increasingly vital tool in evidence-gathering for criminal and accident investigations, and prosecutions," Edison Mayor Thomas Lankey said in an emailed statement. "A visual record would also foster greater public confidence in our police officers by demonstrating their commitment to duty and level of professionalism."
The town has applied for a $250,000 federal grant, and also is requesting a share of a $150,000 state grant that was awarded to the Middlesex County prosecutor's office. The federal grant is part of a $75 million Department of Justice body-camera program.
The money would pay for 125 body-worn cameras, usually worn on or near the lapel, plus cloud-based digital storage where the video footage would reside.
Police in Morristown, Atlantic City, sheriff's deputies in Essex and Cape May counties and Rowan and Kean police already wear the body cameras, the township said.
The Edison Police Department has 173 sworn officers. Edison's crime rate is among the lowest in the nation for a town of its size, but years of scandal have helped instill a high level of public distrust in the department.
Brian Amaral may be reached at bamaral@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bamaral44. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
