Officer R.M. Medlock with the Summerville Police Department wears his body camera that he activates during every stop he makes as part of the traffic police unit. Charleston police officers soon could be wearing body cameras to record all of the their interactions with citizens, a practice that has sparked privacy concerns with the American Civil Liberties Union.

Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen made a presentation on a plan to eventually provide the wearable video devices to all police officers to City Council’s Public Safety Committee Thursday.

He has applied for a $30,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to launch the program, he said. If he gets the grant, he will use the money to purchase the first 21 body cameras and begin equipping his officers with the surveillance technology that is growing more popular nationwide.

There will be a public hearing on the matter at the July 15 City Council meeting, said Councilwoman Kathleen Wilson, who is chairwoman of the Public Safety Committee.

Mullen said he’s pretty sure the department will get the grant, and that officers will begin using the cameras – which cost about $1,310 a piece – by the end of the year.

Officers clip the devices to their shirts in the center of their chests, he said. They are more effective than dashboard-mounted cameras because they move with the officer and record everything in front of him or her.<

"It's the wave of the future," Mullen said. He predicts that five years from now, officers around the country will be issued body cameras just as they are issued guns today.

The city already has dashboard-mounted cameras in its police cars, and a series of safety and security cameras throughout the city, Mullen said. But the body cameras would improve officers' testimony in court, help with investigations, and provide mutual accountably involving community concerns about officers' conduct.