ASHLAND — Ashland County Sheriff’s Office could begin implementing the use of body cameras before the end of the year.
At a Thursday meeting, the Ashland County Commissioners approved spending $26,060 on 40 cameras and required software, $11,960 of which will be reimbursed.
“We had this opportunity come up to buy the cameras at a lesser price, and so the Sheriff, Capt. (Dave) Blake and I decided it’d be a good thing to do,” said Chief Deputy Carl Richert.
He explained that officers in 16 road enforcement units and the corrections division will be required to wear the cameras daily and be given instructions as to when the cameras should be running. The videos will be downloaded daily and stored as required.
“Basically, it’s for everyone’s safety. It protects the officer, and it protects the community too,” Richert said. “(Before) if someone calls in, it was their word against the deputy. It’ll be a little different now. We can document everything.”
This will be especially valuable in the corrections division, he said.
“We have over 100 cameras in our corrections facility. But it’ll be better if the officer has a camera on them with video and audio directed towards an incident,” Richert said. “They will have to be responsible for what they say and do. We’re trying to be transparent.
As quickly as a storage system for the videos is in place and tested, the cameras are expected to be put into full operation.
