PITTSFIELD, Mass. - The Pittsfield Police Department is now training with new body cameras and hopes to have them in use by the end of the week.

It comes just after the state awarded the city money to help pay for the program.

Pittsfield police chief Michael Wynn gave the city council a status update Tuesday night on the department’s body camera pilot program which was slated to start at the end of October.

Concerns by police unions and other outlying issues delayed the police body camera program a couple of times in the last month, but after reaching agreements, Wynn now says they’re ready to roll this week.

“Assuming no technological issues arise during the training, we’re prepared to initiate the program by the end of this week," Wynn told the city council Tuesday night. "Possibly the end of this weekend.”

Pittsfield Police is receiving $166,586.73 from the state to help pay for the program. The department is leaning toward a contract with Axon for their body cameras.

The grant money would cover the first of two payments as well as part of the second, and the rest of the cost would have to be covered by the city. City councilors had questions on the cost of the physical cameras, but Wynn clarified the real cost is for the data storage.

“They’re interested in securing us as a customer because once we start generating public records on one of these systems, we’re pretty much married to that system," Wynn said. "There aren’t really any entire costs with a body camera program. This is an ongoing recurring expense because it’s the data storage, the data access and the data retrieval.”

The department hasn’t signed any contracts yet but Wynn said they’re in discussions and the first payment of about $106,000 would be due in January. Councilor Earl Persip raised questions about the past concerns police unions had with the program.

“What stops any of the unions from having the same or another concern that stops this program?” Persip asked.

“We resolved the issue that they brought forward at the last moment," Wynn responded. "And signed a separate memorandum, or agreement, that they won’t oppose.”

The body camera pilot program will consist of two cameras on shift at any given time and two cameras assigned to the investigative section. The department will swap the cameras between officers every four to six weeks to get the biggest data set possible.

They say they’ll continue the pilot program until they have enough cameras for the whole department, which could be as late as March due to supply chain issues.

The body camera program has been quoted to cost $185,000 annually. Wynn said he plans to ask the city council for the money in his annual budget requests.