St. Louis-area officials considering wearable cameras after Ferguson

Following the Aug. 9 shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer, St. Louis area officials are contemplating the use of wearable cameras for their law enforcement officers. One community, Ellisville in west St. Louis County, already has ponied up the $7,500 needed to equip its officers with cameras, while the city of Ferguson and others are weighing their options.   

The city of Wentzville at the western edge of suburban St. Louis has had its officers using the wearable cameras for about two years. The police department in Crystal City in Jefferson County has experimented with the cameras but budget issues have prevented their implementation. The cameras cost anywhere from $300 to $800, but data storage fees can increase costs by thousands of dollars, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

In the fallout from Ferguson, President Barack Obama is looking at ways to demilitarize civilian police and nearly 150,000 people have signed a petition to create a law named after Brown that would require all police to wear cameras.

Read more from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.