'A great benefit': Gov. DeWine awards grants to law enforcement agencies for body cameras - WSAZ-TV
MEIGS COUNTY, Ohio. (WSAZ) - Body cameras are coming to several police and sheriff offices in southeastern Ohio.
“I feel like it’s a necessity that we need. Every agency should have it,” said Meigs County Sheriff Keith Wood. “It’s always been about money to provide to pay for it. We just don’t have the money to do that.”
This technology is being funded by Governor Mike DeWine’s Ohio Body-Worn Camera Grant Program.
Monday, DeWine awarded more than $4.7 million to 109 law enforcement agencies. 49 of the agencies receiving grants will create new body-worn camera programs, and the other 60 agencies will dedicate funding towards expanding or upgrading existing technology.
The Pomeroy Police Department and Meigs County Sheriffs Office are two of the departments in southeastern Ohio receiving money to equip their officers for the first time with body cameras.
“It’s as much to protect those officers as it is to have that transparency with the public,” said Christopher Pitchford, the Pomeroy Police Chief.
Both Wood and Pitchford say they’ve wanted body camera’s for their deputies and officers for years, but never had the money to buy them.
“You have storage, you have other hardware such as equipment to download the data. The data is probably the most important part. That’s why we would carry these to begin with - to collect that data when the officers are on duty,” said Pitchford.
Pitchford and Wood say these cameras will provide evidence and information, along with accountability for what the officers are doing, and complaints against them.
“I think it does give a good perspective of here’s what happened while we were there, and the courts can see this, the defense attorneys can see it and it’s gotta be more for good than bad,” said Wood. “It’s going to provide a lot of narrative that you can’t explain in court, you turn the video on and watch it.”
The body cameras come with a large price tag and the grant money does not cover the cost of everything they need for all the officers and deputies to wear the cameras.
The large cost is the software needed to store the video from the cameras.
“We were looking at probably 40 some thousand a dollars in cost of that type of equipment so we’re limited to where we’re going to be able to go but I appreciate what we got from the state of Ohio,” said Wood. “We’re not going to be able to go 100% we wanted to but it’s a start and it gets us on track.”
Both departments received less than half of what they applied for.
The Pomeroy Police Department got $14,228 and the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office received $68,017.
They are now adjusting their plans to try to equip as many deputies and officers as possible.
“We’ll work on our road patrol guys and get the people that’s out there going on calls locally, and having them with the cameras and the data that we need to retain those records,” said Wood.
The departments hope to receive the cameras and begin using them within the next several months.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office was awarded $46,816 to start a body camera program.
The Scioto County Sheriff’s Office and Portsmouth Police Department won grants to upgrade their excising technology.
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source: https://www.wsaz.com/2022/01/26/great-benefit-gov-dewine-awards-grants-law-enforcement-agencies-body-cameras/
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