County board OKs body cameras for Sheriff ’s Office

Dodge County commissioners last week approved the purchase of body cameras for the Sheriff’s Office.
Commissioners unanimously approved the purchase of 13 body cameras for the office at the request of Sheriff Scott Rose. “In light of all the attention to law enforcement throughout the state and nation and the unrest that has come with police incidents, we believe it’s important to invest in body cameras for our deputies to help protect our staff, our public and the county’s liability,” Rose told the commissioners.
“In response to the anti-law enforcement unrest that has come with some recent use of force incidents in Minnesota and throughout the country, and in order to continue to serve with transparency and accountability to the communities we serve, the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office will be implementing a Body Worn Camera program for their patrol deputies in the near future,” Rose said in a news release this week.
The cameras will be purchased using existing 2020 funds, Rose said. The Sheriff’s Office is 11% under budget for the current year, he added, saying that much of that is the result of fewer people being held in jail due to COVID-19 restrictions. Dodge County houses prisoners at the Steele County Law Enforcement Center and is charged for each inmate held.
Rose said he proposed using jail housing monies to fund the program and camera purchase. The system requested by Rose is from a company called Watch Guard that is a leading provider of in-car video systems and body-worn cameras for agencies in the United States and Canada.
The office has been transitioning the squad video systems to Watch Guard over the past two years and as a result already has a server system and remote downloading capabilities. This will make the transition in body worn cameras more cost effective than starting over with a new product and system, Rose said.
Included in the purchase are 13 cameras, charging bases, data transfer equipment and software licensing. This will ensure that everyone on duty, at any given time, day or night, will be equipped with a body camera, Rose said. Cameras will be used by patrol deputies, court security deputies and the school resource deputy.
The initial cost will be $19,333 with cameras added as the office upgrades squad camera systems each year to the new Watch Guard product. Eventually, Rose said, all deputies will be equipped with assigned body worn cameras.
The body worn cameras will help the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office continue the policy of being transparent to the public, improve deputy accountability, help reduce complaints and resolve officer-involved incidents, protect the deputies and the public from false allegations or statements, help corroborate the facts of any encounter and help result in quicker resolution and will help corroborate evidence, Rose said. Body worn cameras could also help identify and correct any internal agency problems, training issues, etc.
“We’ve worked diligently over the last six years to provide as much accountability and transparency as possible with the communities we serve,” Rose said. “We don’t see use of force or other complaints filed against our deputies here in Dodge, which is a testament to the high caliber of men and women we have serving here, the dedication of the supervisors making sure each shift goes smoothly, and the quality of the training our staff receives each year.
“However, we recognize that our greatest measure of success is the public’s satisfaction and trust, and this equipment will provide another tool for us to help build on the trust we’ve worked hard to establish over the years here in Dodge County.”