The Bulgarian Ministry of Interior has announced plans to equip 13,400 police officers with body cameras as part of a nationwide initiative to improve transparency, accountability, and the overall efficiency of law enforcement.
The rollout, which targets all uniformed personnel with police powers, was confirmed during a recent meeting between Interior Minister Daniel Mitov, acting U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria Martin McDowell, and Commercial Attaché Hannah Kamenetsky.
The primary objective of the deployment is to record police interactions in real-time, particularly in tense or high-risk scenarios.
According to the Ministry, the cameras will serve not only to protect civilians but also law enforcement officers, by ensuring that all encounters are properly documented.
“The use of body cameras will significantly strengthen the integrity of our policing system,” Interior Minister Mitov said. “It ensures transparency for both citizens and officers and helps defuse potentially volatile situations.”
The funding for the body cameras stems from Bulgaria’s Traffic Safety Fund, which collected over 352 million leva between 2021 and November 2024.
The fund has already supported the acquisition of critical public safety tools such as drug and alcohol testing kits, tablets, mobile printers, personal cameras, and analyzers.
In a formal written response published on the National Assembly’s website, acting Interior Minister Atanas Ilkov revealed that a technical specification for the body camera procurement is currently being finalized.
The project’s estimated cost is 70 million leva, including VAT. The announcement followed a parliamentary inquiry submitted by MP Ivan Ivanov.
Beyond the body camera initiative, the Ministry has initiated two new public procurement projects worth a combined 27 million leva. These aim to acquire specialized vehicles for traffic incident response and the repatriation of motor vehicles.
In 2025, the Ministry also intends to allocate more than 12 million leva to secure high-risk pedestrian areas across the country. This comes in parallel with four additional procurement contracts—totaling nearly 28 million leva—for the installation of stationary and mobile speed cameras.
Another major procurement, worth over 150 million leva, will fund the purchase of new police vehicles for Sofia and regional directorates.
The Interior Ministry’s comprehensive approach to modernizing law enforcement and road safety underscores Bulgaria’s commitment to international standards of public security and operational transparency.
The involvement of U.S. diplomatic officials further signals international support for these reforms, especially in terms of technology and accountability.
As the technical specifications and procurement processes advance, the Ministry aims to begin distributing the cameras in phases by the end of 2025.