There’s a summer deadline on whether to equip Somerville police officers with body-worn cameras, an issue bouncing around City Council and committee meetings for several months. It gets a virtual special meeting of the council and a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. July 27.
The office of mayor Jake Wilson, who supports accepting a grant to pay for the equipment despite it incurring other costs, announced the meeting Thursday.
After the council’s Finance Committee voted 4–1 on July 7 against accepting the $231,635 grant, citing the half-million-dollar annual operating cost the city would have to pay as a result, the full council debated the issue July 9 and sent the grant back to committee. A Surveillance Technology Impact Report detailing how camera data will be collected and stored was also sent to committee in anticipation of a hearing, called for in a June petition signed by 89 residents.
The council then went on a summer recess; this action calls them back.
Wilson said Thursday that he was calling a special meeting and hearing “not to preempt but in addition to the requested hearing,” because he “heard from the council that they wanted to hear from the public before voting.”
His office provided background on the issue, which has been edited lightly:
After the death of George Floyd in 2020, the city committed to a 10-point plan to address systemic racism.The plan included achieving a goal from 2015 for police officers to deploy body-worn cameras for the safety and protection of the public and officers. In March 2021, the City Council unanimously backed a proposed 2020 resolution in support of the cameras. Also in March 2021, after several years of negotiations, the city and Somerville Police Employees Association union reached an agreement to implement the cameras with additional pay for its members. In 2022, the city’s Department of Racial and Social Justice launched a Public Safety for All Task Force, which, among other recommendations, called for the implementation of body-worn cameras in its final report in 2025.
The state offered a grant for camera funds in October with a December deadline; Somerville won the grant and asked for council approval after getting word of the award in early 2026. The city must buy the equipment by Aug. 31 to keep the funding.
Join the hearing anytime before the meeting with this link. Those unable to attend can submit comments to the city clerk at 93 Highland Ave., Somerville, MA 02143 or by email at publiccomments@somervillema.gov before noon July 27.
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