During Monday’s regular meeting of the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BOMA), the board voted unanimously to spend just over $8,000 to purchase body cameras for Vicksburg Police Department officers.

Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said the purchase of 10 new cameras will cost the city $8,910, adding that he expected the funds to come from the savings the city will incur during the upcoming 2025 municipal elections in June. Following the qualifying deadline in January, none of the three races on the ballot necessitated a primary.

“We budget $118,000 for the election,” Flaggs said. “We don’t have a primary and we don’t have a runoff, so you ought to have at least another $50-to-$75,000 savings. So, we can do some things, especially these cameras.”

Flaggs – who also serves as Vicksburg’s police commissioner – made the cameras a focal point of the discussion during the Feb. 3, BOMA meeting and following the most recent incident involving Vicksburg Police Department officers and questionable interactions with residents.

In that video, a resident interrupts an apparent arrest being made by VPD Deputy Police Chief Troy Kimble. While the unidentified man with the camera did obey orders to back up, he repeatedly made verbal accusations and taunts toward Kimble. The videoed portion of the encounter ended with what appeared to be a scuffle. Kimble was not wearing a body camera during the recorded incident.

“You need to increase the training; increase the professionalism,” Flaggs told VPD Chief of Police Penny Jones during the meeting. “And I reiterate, every police officer that is on the streets of Vicksburg needs to have a body camera. If you find out it’s not working, you need to report it. It’s our lifeline, our protection, is the body camera.”