A total of 250 officers with the Cleveland police, which has been criticized by federal officials because of excessive use of force, will receive body cameras in February as part of what will become a citywide program, a spokesman said on Thursday.
The officers who receive the cameras first, about 17 percent of Cleveland's 1,500-strong police force, had been part of pilot programs testing the cameras, said Cleveland Police Sergeant Ali Pillow.
Policies on camera use, including when officers will record and how long footage will be kept, are pending.
Body cameras are used by thousands of police officers around the country and viewed as a tool to increase transparency, particularly in resolving discrepancies between an officer's account and a citizen's account of violent encounters.
Proper use of force has been debated nationally following high-profile killings of civilians by police in Ferguson, Missouri; New York City; and Cleveland.
The Chicago Police Department, the nation's second largest, started a camera pilot program earlier this month.
Cleveland's camera program, which comes after being tested in 2013 and 2014, follows a scathing U.S. Department of Justice report in December that found the city's police department systematically engages in excessive use of force.
The city and police force are facing federal lawsuits in the deaths of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, shot by police in November while holding a pellet gun, and Tanisha Anderson, 37, who died in police custody last year.
A Cleveland police officer faces criminal charges in the shooting death of two people in 2012.
The Cleveland City Council approved $2.4 million to fund the project late last year.
Zack Reed, councilman for the east side area where the cameras will first be deployed, said they are a good step but not the only answer to the city's community policing problem.