A Vievu camera. Source: Vievu

Police officers in New York City are now required to stop using a recalled body camera following reports that one of the cameras has exploded.

The incident involving the Vievu LE-5 camera occurred Saturday night when an officer noticed the body camera began to smoke. Once the officer removed the camera, it exploded, according to an NYPD statement.

For now, officers have been ordered to stop using the cameras out of “an abundance of caution.”

Currently, the order only affects 3,000 of the cameras in use with the NYPD while 10,000 other cameras in use are not affected by the order.

Camera manufacturer Vievu originally won a $6.4 million contract to supply the cameras to the NYPD in 2016 to meet New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s objective to outfit every patrol officer in the city with a body camera by the end of 2019.

"The incident revealed a potential for the battery inside the camera to ignite. The cause and scope of the defect are currently being investigated," the NYPD said.

"There were no injuries sustained.

"The department is in the process of collecting and removing the LE-5 cameras from the commands now."

Axon, owner of Vievu, said it was working with the NYPD to investigate the problem.

"Officer safety is of the utmost importance to Axon. We will do whatever is necessary to quickly and safely resolve this situation," Axon stated.