Some state troopers assigned to Troop F at Logan International Airport began wearing body cameras this week, as Massachusetts State Police launched a program that is planned to expand across the agency in the coming months, officials said Thursday.
About 150 troopers and sergeants will be outfitted with body cameras and trained to use them over the next two weeks, according to a statement from David Procopio, a State Police spokesman.
Officials from Motorola, the maker of the camera system, are providing the training, he said.
Supervisors, legal staff, and system administrators in Troop F will also be trained in using the body camera system, which will expand later this year to the other five State Police troops, the department’s Special Operations Troop, and members of other divisions, including staff at the State Police Academy, according to the statement.
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The department began with Troop F because it operates out of only one barracks, the statement said.
Colonel Christopher S. Mason, superintendent of the State Police, said in the statement that wearing body cameras “is the next step in the evolution of our officer safety and accountability initiatives.”
“The camera system will provide valuable digital evidence in our mission to hold perpetrators accountable and will record interactions between officers and the public – thus ensuring that officers maintain the level of professionalism we demand, protecting officers and the public alike from any inaccurate descriptions of an interaction, and assisting us in assessing the credibility of any complaints made against officers,” Mason said.
State Police officials developed guidelines for the cameras’ use in collaboration with the State Police Association of Massachusetts, the union that represents troopers and sergeants, according to the statement.
Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com. Follow him @jeremycfox.