Funding questioned for deputy body cameras

Bartholomew County Council members remain skeptical of whether the county can afford cameras for deputies to wear and for their patrol cars.

The council heard a presentation from the sheriff’s department at their work session last night, held by Zoom conference call. Capt. Brandon Slate with the sheriff’s department said the department had identified the Axon company’s product as the one they would like to purchase. The cameras would turn on automatically when emergency lights are activated, or when an officer draws a weapon. All footage would be uploaded to the internet for cloud storage with no additional storage cost to the county. The Axon cameras are the same used by Columbus police officers.

The total cost of the project, over five years would be $738 thousand dollars with $280 thousand dollars in first year costs, including $50 thousand in installation charges, coming in the next few weeks, if approved by the council. After that initial outlay, the costs would be $127 thousand per year in years two through five.

Council members including former Sheriff Mark Gorbett, and Evelyn Pence said they did not support the spending right now because of the uncertainty over future funding for the county budget. The county is expecting large hits to tax revenues due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Council president Matt Miller suggested the sheriff split off the car cameras from the body cams, as the car cameras are about twice as expensive as the body cameras. Miller also wanted the sheriff to come back with quotes from different body cam companies, with possibly lower costs.

The council did not vote on the proposal because it was a work session. But agreed to hear the sheriff’s formal proposal at next Tuesday’s regular council meeting.