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Last updated on Thursday, December 10, 2015
(BLOOMINGTON) - The Monroe County Sheriff’s Department plans to have all deputies wear body cameras by Christmas.
The department will have officers record all interactions involving criminal activity to make sure the officer and suspect are being treated lawfully. The department expects to make around 15,000 recordings in 2016.
Monroe County Sheriff Brad Swain says the cameras will help keep officers safe and the department more efficient by alter the the behavior officers wearing them and the behavior of the person being recorded. It will also keep offenders from making false allegations against officers.
The department bought 36 body cameras for its 32 deputies and spent $39,000 on the program. The sheriff says that was less than what the county is expected to spends on fuel in 2015. Future costs of the program are expected to be between $5,000 and $6,000 a year.
All recordings will be stored on a server in the sheriff's office.
The Monroe County Merit Board, a group of five sheriff deputies, will make a final vote on the body camera program December 16.
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