Body camera proves useful in Hyde Park arrest, police say

Around 1 p.m. on Tuesday, District E-18 officers responded to a report of a house break-in on Avila Road in Hyde Park - including one officer wearing one of the body cameras the department is testing out.

Sgt. Tom Manning told the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association tonight the officer got to the front door just as the alleged burglar was also heading there. He spotted her, changed directions, kicked out an air conditioner and fled out the window - all while her camera was running, Manning said.

The burglar didn't get far - he was collared three or four blocks away on Beaver Street. And now the video from the officer's camera will become evidence against him, Manning said.

Proponents had initially tried to convince the city to have officers wear cameras as a way of increasing trust by having a video record of interactions between officers and members of the public, not as a crime-fighting tool. Police say the current pilot, which began last month, will help them decide whether to continue the program and, if so, whether to expand it to all patrol officers, and how to pay for the cost of maintaining the cameras and the video they collect.