DAVENPORT, Iowa -- The Scott County Sheriff's Office is asking the Scott County Board of Supervisors to spend $300,000 on an in-car camera system and body-camera system.
On Tuesday, April 5, 2016, representatives from the Scott County Sheriff's Office made a presentation at the Scott County Board of Supervisor's meeting, detailing the kinds of cameras they want to purchase, where the funding will come from and how the systems will serve the community.
According to the presentation, the WatchGuard 4RE in-car camera system that the Scott County Sheriff's Department wants to buy is easy to use, can have up to three cameras recording at once, will show video from inside the squad car as well as outside, has 24-hour customer care service, saves recordings easily and has a panoramic view.
The body camera system the Sheriff's Office wants to buy is called Vista. It can shoot up to nine hours of recorded video, can integrate in the car and has LED lighting.
If the purchase is approved, the Scott County Sheriff's Office would buy 24 in-car cameras. Out of those cameras, 21 would go inside squad cars, two would be used inside school resource vehicles, one would be inside a reserve vehicle, and one more would be used in a training sergeant vehicle.
The approval would also allow them to purchase and deploy 75 body-camera systems. 41 cameras would go to lieutenants, 16 to bailiffs, 16 for jail sergeants, and two for reserve personnel.
In addition to the in-car camera system and body-camera system, the Sheriff's Office would also buy three interview cameras and DVR's for their investigation division and interview room.
"We would like everything that we do to be available to the public so that they're not just hearing one side of the story," said Dennis Conard, Scott County Sheriff. "They can see both sides of the story through a recording that documents what actually happens as opposed to what people think happened or what people made up."
Between the in-car cameras and body-cameras, equipment and installation, software maintenance and storage, live streaming applications, shipping and applied discounts, the county would spend approximately $300,000.
The jail and bailiff personnel cameras would cost $53,864 and the funding would come from commissary funds. The cameras that would be used by deputies and reserve personnel would cost $55,910 and would be paid by forfeiture funds.
Sheriff Conard said the cameras are necessary for this day in age.
"Look at the news any day and watch the camera footage that's available to the news media and to the public [that documents] incidents between the people we serve and the police. I think that answers that question very quickly and succinctly," Conard said.
The life span of an in-car camera is eight to ten years and for a body-camera is five years.
The Scott County Board of Supervisors will vote to approve or deny to purchase the in-car camera system and body-camera system on Thursday, April 7th.