Revere police should be fully equipped with body cameras by next spring, according to Police Chief Maria LaVita.
LaVita was before the city council on Monday night to update it on the body camera program.
“I got a few questions from residents about this, and I just didn’t have enough information to give to them, so I figured this would be a great opportunity for not only us, but for the public to hear about the video cameras,” said Council President Marc Silvestri.
LaVita said the department has been working on the body-worn camera program for many months.
“We have an implementation plan and we’ve negotiated with both unions on a policy,” said LaVita. “I have a 14-page policy ready to be issued. The cost of the program is just over $1.1 million over five years.”
The chief said the department is putting the finishing touches on a state grant that recently became available to help pay for the first year of the program.
“The applications are due no later than Dec. 3, and I think we are in a very good position,” said LaVita. “We could possibly get up to $250,000, which would cover the first year of the bodycam program. We are hoping that goes well; we should be hearing some time in December on that, according to the state.”
As for the timeline for the cameras, LaVita said the current plan is to issue the policy in January along with a training to make sure all the department’s officers are aware of the policy.
“From there, we will launch a pilot program for somewhere between three to five officers who will volunteer to test out the body-worn cameras and get the equipment in order, which are docking stations that the officers will have to, for lack of a better word, dump the videos into; so it is all cloud-based software.”
The training for the pilot program is slated for February with it being launched in late February to early March.
The chief said there will be 113 cameras, with one camera per officer.
“As for the full program, we are looking at hardware delivery some time in early March, 2026,” said LaVita. “Again, installation of that equipment, training for the full department in March to April … with full deployment for May.”
Ward 5 Councillor Angela Guarino-Sawaya asked if there would be a video evidence unit.
“Lt. (Lynn) Romboli is here; she will be in charge of that, kicking off the pilot program to make sure that we are ready for the full department,” said LaVita. “As far as storage, redaction software, things of that nature, she will be in charge of that unit.”
Ward 6 Councillor Chris Giannino said he was glad to see the body camera program is moving forward.
“We are going in a good direction with this here,” said Giannino. “A lot of time you see video footage and you see one side of the story. It’s going to be nice to know what the whole story that was going on.”
