By Steve Neavling
Dozens of Homeland Security agents will begin wearing body cams as part of a six-month pilot program.
The cameras will be worn by 55 Homeland Security Investigations agents in Houston, Newark, New Jersey and New York, the Associated Press reports.
The idea is to examine the cost and benefits of the technology.
The pilot is expected to be expanded to include officers involved in immigration enforcement arrests.
While many local and state law enforcement wear body cameras, federal agents have not.
ATF agents in Phoenix and Detroit began wearing body cams in September.
In August, CBP announced that about a third of Border Patrol agents will wear body cameras by the end of this year.
In June, the Justice Department’s Inspector General said federal law enforcement agencies were “generally unprepared” to adopt the widespread use of body cameras.
In the last decade, the Justice Department issued $150 million in grants for camera programs, but none of that money went to the ATF, FBI, DEA, or U.S. Marshals Service.
