In response to the highly publicized police brutality cases dominating the national headlines, a push for police officers to wear body cameras has started gaining traction across the country. During this morning's "Lafayette Live" segment with Joey Durel, a caller asked the City-Parish President if Lafayette has any plans for outfitting Lafayette police officers with body cams.

The question is do we go ahead and get it done or do we wait for a state mandate

"I can’t tell you we have anything in the budget right now, but for us to ignore technology would be stupid on our part," said Durel.

The caller referenced statistics that show a reduction in the police brutality rates in communities that have instituted body cams for the police force. Durel acknowledged that he was aware of the statistics and confirmed that he was exploring the body cam idea with Lafayette Chief Administrative Officer Dee Stanley.

"The truth is police brutality did not go down because the police are less brutal," said Durel. "The police brutality goes down because the truth is on video."

During the discussion, "Nathan and Bernie in the Morning" host Nathan Pike interjected that Opelousas Police Chief Perry Gallow has announced that his officers will be equipped with body cams. The Opelousas Police Department announced the purchase of 30 body cameras for officers.

"The question is do we go ahead and get it done or do we wait for a state mandate," said Durel. "We are definitely talking about it, and if we decided to do it we will put it in the budget this year."

To listen to the full audio from the interview click the play button below:

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