LEXINGTON, Ky. — A new change has taken place at the Lexington Police Department starting this month. All sworn police officers are now wearing body cameras.

Lt. David Richardson explained a bit about how the cameras work.

“Once I get a call I would, you know, activate my camera, would get an audible tone and a visual tone of red light, that would let me know that it was recording,” Richardson said as he demoed a newer camera.

The police department has two types of body cameras: ones that mount on the shoulder and the new ones that sit on the center of the chest.

“We're hoping to upgrade these cameras so that everybody has the same camera because these are some additional features,” Richardson said.

Eventually, the department will invest in newer models that could activate remotely if an officer draws a weapon.

“They can be turned on remotely like if you draw your taser, it would automatically turn on, and that's something we're looking at maybe purchasing in the future,” Richardson said. 

Officers in Lexington started wearing body cameras in 2016. So far, Richardson said patrol or traffic officers and some special operations wore them, but not all uniform officers.

Last October, in the Mayor’s Commission for Racial Justice and Equality, a report called for a recommendation that “Every sworn officer should be required to wear body-worn cameras while performing law enforcement duties.” That came full circle this month.

“Body-worn cameras just provide more transparency to the community. Now they let the community see what the officers are experiencing on a day-to-day basis, it helps in the courtroom and helps in prosecution, and so they're just another valuable tool that the officers have at their disposal,” Richardson said. 

The department has more than 1,100 body-worn cameras with 165 of them being the newer models.