 The president's budget proposal eliminates public media funding. Learn how you can help at lptv.org slash action. Well since legislation allowing for police body cameras and the footage to be shared publicly became law in August law enforcement agencies including the Bemidji police department are looking to purchase the equipment. As Mel Meyer reports the addition could help both police officers and residents alike. The bill signed into law last May by Governor Mark Dayton allows law enforcement to record audio and video on devices other than the cameras inside their patrol cars. The trouble with that is if it didn't happen in front of the squad car it wasn't on video. So when it came to complaints about police brutality or misconduct it was hard to prove either way in favor of the citizen or the arresting officer. Now we're hoping that integrating the camera with the officer will get a firsthand view of what happened and be more apt to accurately investigate any claims against an officer. The department released a public survey in February and received a very positive response in light of this. As required by state legislation they held their first public meeting Wednesday night. So some of them might have more upfront costs. Mayor Rita Albright says she wanted to hear what community members had to say about it. I think it was great that we had some criminal justice students from a university here. Apparently there's not a lot of broad interest because we didn't have a whole lot of citizens here so maybe that's a good sign. Councilwoman Nancy Erickson has already seen the presentation and says that they have her full support. I totally support them if the officers want them and it appears that they do. Now moving forward the department will have to decide on the best system for data storage, expected lifespan, and cost. I know that they are an expensive system but I believe in this day and age they're invaluable both for the public and for the officer. The police department hopes to have a type of body camera picked out by May and have a beta group test some in June. In Bemidji I'm Mal Meyer, Lakeland News. And Police Chief Mike Mastin says the hope is to have the body cameras available for the entire police force by August. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.