ONEIDA — The Oneida City Police Department has taken the next step to outfit its officers with body cameras after the city council approved the contract at Tuesday’s Common Council meeting.

The city council voted and approved the police chief to sign a five-year contract with Axon Enterprise for the body cameras and everything that comes with it. The Police Department is expected to receive its first cameras sometime around May. The cost is estimated at around $33,578 a year.

“This has been in the making since the inception of body cameras,” Police Chief Steven Lowell said after the meeting. “We just started getting traction on it within the last two years.”

Lowell said body cameras would help the Oneida City Police Department stay transparent.

“We’ll be able to have a digital recording of what transpired during an incident while also helping expedite case prosecution. A recorded deposition can allow for [better] case preparation,” Lowell said. “These body cameras are a great tool that was much needed. It took this long because we needed to understand how to run the body camera program while also funding it.”

While the price tag is a bit hefty, Lowell said this not only includes the body cameras but the software, license, and storage of the video files.

When asked about the department’s policy for body cameras, Lowell said he couldn’t speak to the exact policy the department has as it’s “... still in development.”

“As [the policy] gets ironed out, the department would be happy to comment on that at a later time to be completely transparent on how we’ll use the cameras,” Lowell said.

Mayor Helen Acker said the body camera program was much needed and was happy to finally see movement on it.

“It’s needed for both the police department and the individuals involved,” she said. “There’s always more than one side to everything, and this ensures accountability from everyone.”