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Columbus, Ohio, Approves $9 Million Police Body Camera Contract

About $4.1 million will be for data storage and $3.6 million for the cameras themselves. The rest of the money will be used for training, licensing fees and other accessories.

(TNS) -- The Columbus City Council approved a contract Monday night with a Texas company to provide body cameras for police officers, costing the city about $9.1 million over five years.

It’s not yet clear when the 1,432 officers slated to get the cameras will all be equipped, Assistant Public Safety Director George Speaks said. But 12 officers in the traffic bureau should have them by the end of this month, with the remaining 72 officers in that bureau to have them by the end of January.

The city selected Watch Guard Video of Allen, Texas, from 12 company proposals. The city plans to buy 1,575 cameras for officers, with some cameras to be kept in reserve. After providing them to the traffic bureau, the city would then distribute the rest of the cameras in eight phases.

About $4.1 million will be for data storage and $3.6 million for the cameras themselves. The rest of the money will be used for training, licensing fees and other accessories.

“I’ve been a champion of this kind of technology,” council President Zach Klein said. He said it will bring accountability and transparency to police actions with the public. In September, the police union and the city agreed to rules that will allow officers to review footage before filing reports or making statements.

In other business, the City Council approved new rules for extended-stay hotels that will prohibit them in manufacturing districts such as in areas east of Indianola Avenue in Clintonville. City officials and residents have been concerned that developers have avoided rezoning by going to these areas, and the projects are operated more like apartments than hotels. Developments in the planning stages or under construction will be grandfathered in.

Also, the council approved a jobs-creation tax credit of 55 percent for five years with DSW and five affiliates in return for a $3.6 million investment and 100 new full-time jobs.

The company plans to make the improvements at 4314 E. 5 th Ave., a former airline hangar at John Glenn Columbus International Airport. The company will improve 82,000 square feet there while also reconfiguring its headquarters at 810 DSW Dr.

The shoe company will be creating a business-park campus at those two locations, plus at 4150 E. 5 th Ave., for the new jobs and 840 jobs that it will be retaining.

The annual salaries for the new jobs it plans to create will range from $24,960 to $104,000.

Asked why the city needed to offer the incentive, Development Director Steve Schoeny said DSW was considering Utah for the expansion.

And the council agreed to give the Capitol South Community Urban Redevelopment Corp. a little more than an acre at S. 3 rd and E. Rich streets so Kaufman Development and Daimler Group can build a 12-story building called Two25 Commons, the last piece of the redevelopment of the Columbus Commons site where the Columbus City Center mall once stood.

The mixed-use building will have offices, stores and residences. Capitol South will sell the sites to the developers for $2.4 million.

©2016 The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.