The California Highway Patrol plans to equip all its officers with the bodycams by next year.
CHP spokesperson Jaime Coffee told CalMatters about 2,400 body-worn cameras have been handed out to officers in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and the Sacramento area. She said all 7,600 CHP officers are expected to receive their cameras by next March.
Since 2023, state lawmakers have given CHP nearly 20 million dollars for the new cameras and have planned five million dollars in ongoing funding to support the new system.
According to data from the state Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board, Highway patrol officers make around two million stops a year.
They've also been deployed during the federal government's immigration raids in LA, used to fight crime in Oakland and police drag races, among other things.
