U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom in a news release on Friday urged Kansas law enforcement agencies to apply for a new federal funding program designed to help outfit officers with body cameras, but local law enforcement officials say there are many factors to consider before implementing the technology in Lawrence.

The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday announced a new Body-Worn Camera Pilot Partnership program that will provide $17 million in competitive grants for law enforcement agencies to purchase body-mounted cameras, the release said. The program also would provide $2 million for training and technical assistance and $1 million for the development of evaluation tools to study best practices.

The pilot partnership is part of President Obama’s proposal to invest $75 million over three years to purchase 50,000 body-worn cameras for law enforcement agencies, the release said.

But while local law enforcement, including the Lawrence Police Department and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, has said they may look into getting body-mounted cameras in the future, Lawrence police spokesman Sgt. Trent McKinley said there are numerous factors to consider before a similar program could come to Lawrence.

“Funding for ongoing purchases of cameras, servers and software, as well as the periodic updating of those resources, would need to be identified, even if some initial costs were covered by a grant,” McKinley said.

Further, McKinley said, the department would have to develop new policies regarding camera usage, address privacy concerns of those being recorded and hire more personnel to accommodate the cameras, including technology support and “personnel who would review, process and disseminate the video as needed.”

McKinley said the department “may consider (the grant program) in the future as the technology evolves and issues related to their use have thoughtful community consideration,” but he did not know Friday whether it might apply for one of the DOJ program’s grants.

“If implementation of body worn cameras is done right, with careful consideration of these and many other related issues related to the technology, the cameras could prove to be a useful tool,” McKinley said.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Steve Lewis said the agency’s administrative staff was not available Friday, so he did not know whether the sheriff’s office might apply for a body camera grant.