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Englewood, Hackensack Police Getting Body Cameras

Police in Englewood and Hackensack are among more than three dozen law enforcement agencies in New Jersey receiving money for body cameras in the latest round of state funding, authorities said.

Nearly half of all 500 or so police agencies in NJ have or are getting the cameras, authorities said.

Nearly half of all 500 or so police agencies in NJ have or are getting the cameras, authorities said.

Photo Credit: COURTESY: Elmwood Park PD

Englewood gets $35,000 of the $566,000 grant, which will provide 1,132 new body cameras and accompanying equipment statewide.

Hackensack gets $15,000.

Several departments in Bergen and Passaic counties previously received state funds for the cameras from $4.5 million that state Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino has awarded to what is now 240 law enforcement agencies -- nearly half of all departments in New Jersey -- over the past two years.

These include the Bergen County Sheriff's Office and police in East Rutherford, Elmwood Park, Englewood Cliffs, Garfield, Harrington Park, Lyndhurst, Midland Park, Rutherford and Saddle Brook.

The cameras "promote transparency, mutual accountability, and trust between police and the community," Porrino said.

A full list of the awards by agency is posted with a news release from Porrino at www.njpublicsafety.com.

The current round of grants uses funds from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (“JAG”) Program, appropriated by Congress to the U.S. Department of Justice to assist states and local governments in carrying out programs "to prevent and control crime and to improve the functioning of the criminal justice system," the attorney general said.

Acquiring body cameras is up to each individual department and municipality.

However, Porrino cited his "strong support" for their use, which produced a statewide policy from him in 2015.

“This new round of funding for body cameras will keep New Jersey in the vanguard nationally in using this technology, which promotes transparency in policing while protecting officers in their difficult and dangerous jobs,” he said.

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