Huntingdon police start using body cameras

HUNTINGDON, Tenn. — The Huntingdon Police Department passed a milestone Friday as officers began using body cameras for the first time.

Starting at 6 a.m., officers began using the new cameras. Officials say the department has 16 and that they were approved last year.

Walter Smothers, the city’s director of public safety, says he hopes the cameras will add transparency between police and the public and that he hopes other area departments will follow suit.

“They might’ve avoided problems that they had with the police clashing with the public if they had body cameras in some of these places that had trouble in the last year,” Smothers said.

Smothers says the cameras were purchased through a grant from the Tennessee Highway Safety Office.