COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Every officer within the Columbus Division of Police is expected to have their body cameras in place six months ahead of schedule, according to the city’s Department of Public Safety.

The city began distributing the cameras, in December 2016.

The plan had been for every officer to be equipped with one, by the end of 2018.

Now, however, the department expects to have all cameras dispersed, by June.

“We are both, I’m very glad to say, under budget and we’re ahead of schedule,” said George Speaks, Deputy Director of the Department of Public Safety. “I’m elated.”

The original price tag on the cameras and subsequent equipment was estimated to be roughly $9.5-million over a five year period, but Speaks said the cost to the city will actually be $100,000 less than expected.

“We were able to install fiber optic cabling into our police substations quicker than anticipated, and for less money than was originally budgeted,” he explained.

So far, he said 869 officers wear the cameras, which were first distributed to freeway patrol and bicycle officers.

Sergeant Isaac Bridges, a member of the freeway patrol, was one of the first to wear one.

“In 27 years of being a police officer, it’s evolutionary in our job,” said Bridges. “The citizens are able to see and hear the way that officers are treated, the way that officers treat the public and it allows us to live up to that standard of accountability and public trust.”

The Columbus Division of Police has roughly 1,300 officers, all of whom will use the cameras, according to Speaks.