CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department will consider equipping deputies with body cameras.
Chief Deputy Joe Crawford said the technology has advanced to where they have become essential equipment for the job. The department recently sought funding from the Kanawha County Commission to purchase the units, but there is a long way to go before they’ll be in use.
“We’re really just in the beginning stages of this,” said Crawford.
The discussions were underway when Crawford came to the job a few months ago. A vendor has now provided some of the products for the department to test in the field. According to Crawford, there are many things to consider as they make the decision on which models to buy. Some of the models will sync the deputy’s body camera with his dashboard camera in the cruiser. Crawford said often that’s valuable.
“Sometimes you get one angle and not the whole view and sometimes it’s misleading. If we’re going to do that and secure the funding it might be that missing piece of the puzzle where we can say, ‘Hey this is what happened,” he said.
The cameras serve several needs. One would be transparency for police work, but Crawford added they also provide protection when an officer is accused of something–protection for both the officer and the person involved in the encounter.
“More often than not, we go back and look at the body camera when a complaint is filed, we can look at the video and know for sure what it was,” he said.
The Sheriff’s Department is working on drawing down grants from the state and from the U.S. Department of Justice for the equipment. If they are successful it could significantly lower the cost to the Kanawha County Commission.
But the Chief cautioned there is still much to consider even if they secure the funding and decide which models they want to purchase. The biggest issue is how they are used.
“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done on policy issues. Obviously you want to draft a policy that fits the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office and not just a canned policy,” he said