Bristol Police To Launch Body & In-Vehicle Camera Program

The Bristol Borough Police Department will be implementing a new body and in-vehicle camera program in 2026.

Bristol Borough Council voted last month to greenlight the $278,242.75 contract with Axon Enterprise Inc., one of the nation’s largest police technology firms.

Under the terms of the deal, the program will cost $55,648.55 annually through 2030. Officials expect to fund the program using grant money.

Police Chief Joe Moors told the council that the department spent more than 18 months evaluating vendors before selecting the Axon system.

“I’d just like to say first off that the mayor, myself and the council has been working on this project for over a year and a half now,” Moors said. “Met with multiple vendors and really just looked at all the options and picked out the best product that I think will suit us here in Bristol Borough.”

The department opted for core camera hardware without integrated artificial intelligence features.

Moors said this decision was made to keep costs manageable and to avoid legal complexities, including potential courtroom challenges regarding AI-generated summaries of police interactions.

While AI features could be added in the future, Moors stated that the current priority is reliable documentation.

“This approach provides the essential benefits of reliable video documentation while keeping maintenance, training and legal risk manageable for our small department,” Moors said.

Mayor Ralph DiGiuseppe III, who is set to leave office next week, signaled his support for the program, noting that body cameras are often welcomed by the officers themselves.

“When the chief and I first talked about this, there’s always this question around body cameras, lawsuits, and things of that nature,” DiGiuseppe said. “But we spoke to a couple people and good police officers want the body cameras. They want to know that they’re doing a good job and we have that in our community.”

The mayor added that the technology serves to demonstrate professionalism while protecting both the public and the officers.

The camera program follows other recent equipment updates spearheaded by Moors and DiGiuseppe. In recent years, the department has outfitted all officers with new outer carrier body armor and expanded its patrol fleet to include four electric police bikes and a Polaris all-terrain vehicle.