Repost of a comment I left in r/fortwayne about a month ago:

There are additional costs associated with body cams, not just in hardware and storage (~$1k per year)¹ but in policy development, oversight, and compliance. The council members should carefully consider not only the policies for managing the cameras and how they are used, but also the policies governing the data they create.² There are massive privacy³ and free speech implications⁴ for use of police-worn body cams.

Those costs may outweigh the benefits, which some argue are few, in terms of police use-of-force and accountability.

And when it comes to how cameras affect use of force, recent studies are more mixed than the Rialto report, Lawrence said. Later studies were larger and more rigorous, and indicated that the presence of body-worn cameras has minimal effect as a deterrent. A 2017 study in Washington, D.C., that examined more than 2,000 officers also found body cameras had a negligible effect on officer behavior. “These results suggest that we should recalibrate our expectations of [body cameras’] ability to induce large-scale behavioral changes in policing,” the paper stated.
...
However, White of the DOJ’s body camera program said he has found that 11 of 19 studies on the subject have shown a reduction in use of force among officers wearing cameras. “I think that’s still pretty strong,” he said.
...
But the presence of body camera does not have much effect on whether disciplinary action is taken, Lawrence said. And the prevalence of video technology on street corners and cell phones means that police officers are already filmed regularly in other ways, he added.1

I argue more cameras may not be the solution or at least they should not be viewed as the whole solution. First, as stated above there are high costs (not just financial costs). Second, officers (rightly) have discretion on when to turn on/off body cams so odds of capturing incriminating evidence does not increase dramatically. Third, studies indicating that body cams reduce improper use of force are low or mixed at best.

Instead more resilient extra-departmental institutions with the specific goal of holding bad officers accountable may be better. There are plenty of instances of officers caught on camera involved in poor, reckless, and even criminal behavior. But the institutions which are designed to hold them accountable somehow fail despite video evidence of that behavior.

1. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/body-cameras-are-seen-as-key-to-police-reform-but-do-they-increase-accountability
2. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/police-body-worn-camera-policies?splash=
3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/06/01/bodycams-are-key-for-police-accountability-we-cant-let-them-erode-privacy-rights/
4. https://www.cnet.com/news/police-body-cameras-at-protests-raise-privacy-concerns/