CHARLOTTE, NC – The Charlotte City Council voted 6-4 to spend $4.5 million over five years for digital video cameras in police vehicles, according to the Charlotte Observer newspaper. Council members had argued about the proposal at their last meeting July 24 and renewed it Monday, with some council members saying they didn’t think the upgrade in technology was worth the expense.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say the analog video equipment currently in the department’s fleet of about 600 cars is obsolete and getting harder to maintain. Council members approved the installation of cameras in police vehicles in 1997, mainly as a hedge against liability: The cameras would show whether police misconduct claims were warranted.

Mayor Pat McCrory said he objected not to the technology update but that a $4.5 million spending request was placed in the council’s “consent” section, generally reserved for small-ticket items deemed unlikely to cause much discussion.