CLAREMORE, Okla. — The Rogers County Sheriff's Office is getting more than 70 body cameras and 27 dash cameras for patrol.
All 24 deputies will receive body cameras, along with other officials who work for the county.
"So we've been working on this for quite some time,” says Rogers County Undersheriff Jon Sappington. "There's anywhere from 24 to 30 individuals working at the jail. The courthouse has five to seven there. Including school resource officers, transport deputies, investigators, so when it’s all said and done, there's around 70 body cameras deployed."
A grant is paying half the cost of the body cameras with the rest coming from the county, which is also footing the bill for the dash cameras. Sappington says this is the first time patrol deputies had body cameras, and they’ve had them agency-wide.
He says the body cameras will be useful when it comes to training and prosecution.
“Being able to take that incident and break it down for all four shifts to be able to learn and take opportunities to advance the office," Sappington said. “Whenever you're going into certain homes and houses and you're looking at certain cases that are children being victimized, being able to show the living situation and circumstances that are going on with that in a more visual manner, rather than just some words you put on paper.”
He said this is also an opportunity for the office to be transparent.
"This is us doing our part to ensure that we are doing everything we can not only to provide the best case but also provide the transparency for the people we serve.”
When the cameras arrive, deputies will go through training on how to use them. The dash cameras will replace the in-car mounted computer system and they expect to start using the new cameras in late fall.
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