As the city prepares to buy new body cameras for police officers, the Overland Park Police Department is revisiting its policies surrounding the devices — including potentially how it discloses footage.
Last week, Police Chief Doreen Jokerst, who took over the city’s top cop job late last year, told the Overland Park City Council’s Public Safety Committee that the department is prioritizing what she called “high-liability policies,” which include standards for body cameras as well as the use of force and police pursuits.
The review is part of a department-wide policy review Jokerst expects to finish by the end of her first full year on the job.
Overland Park Police first deployed body cameras in late 2019 with 200 devices, then the department expanded the program a few months later so that every commissioned officer would have one.
Overland Park Police plan to buy new cameras early
- The city has earmarked $3 million for the purchase, according to the proposed capital improvement plan for 2026 (page 171).
- That covers the cost of new mobile video cameras, body cameras and new cameras in booking and interview spaces at police department facilities.
- Initially, Overland Park had planned to acquire the new cameras and equipment for them in 2028.
- However, the city intends to purchase the devices two years early in 2026 to ensure it is all in the field in time for the greater Kansas City area to host parts of the FIFA World Cup.
- Gena McDonald, Overland Park’s director of finance and budget, said last Wednesday at the committee meeting that the department is looking to “explore different programs, technology and platforms” for these cameras.
Body camera footage isn’t necessarily a public record
Though some states have rules that require the release of body camera footage following officer-involved incidents, Kansas does not.
Under state law, audio and video recordings made by law enforcement and peace officers are classified as criminal investigation records and are released at the discretion of the possessing agency.
Previous attempts to amend Kansas law in favor of more transparency with police body camera footage after fatal officer-involved shootings have been unsuccessful.
In 2020, then-Rep. David Benson, an Overland Park Democrat, sponsored a draft bill that aimed to release footage when an officer is cleared of wrongdoing after a fatal shooting.
The bill was supported by Sheila Albers — a prominent advocate for more transparent policing whose teenage son John Albers was shot and killed by an Overland Park police officer in 2018 during a mental health crisis.
Benson’s bill eventually died in committee.
What is the city’s current policy on releasing body cam footage?
The Overland Park Police Department’s current 10-page policy on audio and video recordings, now up for review, governs how the devices should be used and maintained, as well as how the resulting files should be labeled, stored and reviewed.
The policy states that the chief of police will review and decide whether to authorize requests from the public or media to access footage, audio, images or metadata collected by department body or mobile cameras.
In general, the department’s policy dictates that “video files are OPPD property and are considered a criminal investigation record.”
The city’s policy was last updated in 2024 under the purview of interim Police Chief Simon Happer.
Albers declined to comment on Overland Park Police’s review of its body camera policy but has previously spoken out in favor of changing laws and policies around the devices to make them more transparent.
‘If things can be disclosed, they should’
Shortly after Chief Jokerst started with the Overland Park Police Department in October 2024, she told the Post that she values transparency when it comes to officer-involved incidents.
“I do think if things can be disclosed, they should,” she said last year. “I usually say, ‘Bad news does not age like fine wine.’”
At the time of publication of this story, Jokerst had yet to respond to the Post’s questions about what specifically the department is reviewing or has already identified for change in its body-worn camera policy.
During the committee meeting last week, she told councilmembers that the disclosure of footage and data from body cameras would be part of the review, adhering to “national standards and best practices.”
Jokerst also said the department is working with the city’s attorneys and Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe’s office to “determine the best course forward.”
Next steps:
- At the request of Councilmember Melissa Cheatham, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, Jokerst said she’d come back to the committee with an update when the policy review is complete.
- The exact timeline on that is unclear, but Jokerst suggested the full review could be finished this year.
- Additionally, the city is currently developing the full capital improvement plan — with the expedited timeline for the new body camera purchase — as part of the early stages of the 2026 budget process.
- The actual purchase of the new devices will eventually go to the committee and then the full Overland Park City Council for consideration.
More on body cameras: JoCo mom, state rep are pushing for more transparency around officer-involved shootings
