The Joliet Police Department will soon have 50 new camera-equipped Tasers, after the city council approved their purchase on Tuesday.
The Tasers, to be purchased from TASER International, will cost $110,000. Joliet's police department, which has had stun guns in its arsenal since 2010, will have a total of 219 Tasers after the purchase is completed. The department eventually wants to have Tasers available for all 270 of its officers.
Currently, 31 of the department's Tasers are out of operation because their cameras do not work. Under department policy, Tasers cannot be used if their camera function is not working.
"The videos helped us on internal complaints against officers," Police Chief Brian Benton told the Herald-News, "and it helped us in litigation in that it shows the officer's perspective."
Calls for police officers to be equipped with Tasers and cameras to capture incidents have increased in light of high-profile police shootings across the country.
It was announced Thursday that Chicago's police department, which is under scrutiny over police misconduct allegations, will soon receive nearly 800 new Tasers.
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