COLUMBUS — The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office is one of 108 law enforcement agencies that will receive funding as part of the third round of the Ohio Body-Worn Camera Grant Program, according to a news release from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s office.
Of those agencies, 32 will use funding to create new body-worn camera programs and 76 agencies will dedicate funding toward expanding or upgrading existing technology.
“Body-worn cameras are important for both the protection of our law enforcement officers and members of the public,” said DeWine. “My administration is proud to support our police departments and sheriff’s offices will the cost of this equipment so that agencies big and small can outfit their peace officers with cameras.”
The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office is receiving $110,548. It’s using the funds to upgrade its system, according to Sheriff Vernon Stanforth.
“This is for not only body cameras, but in-car videos. What we currently have is outdated. So, we took this opportunity to upgrade the entire system to one system, it cover the cruisers as well as the body cameras,” he said.
Stanforth added that his office is currently in the process of retrofitting the cruisers with the new cameras and in-car videos.
“It’s a long process because they have to be physically installed, there’s a massive amount of wiring that has to take place,” he said. “We also have to provide training not only on the mechanics of the system, but on the policies and procedures of using both the in-car and body cameras. By late spring, we’re hoping to be operational with the entire system.”
Governor DeWine created the Ohio Body-Worn Camera Grant Program in 2021. In total, more than 300 law enforcement agencies have received funding as part of the program, including over 200 law enforcement agencies that received nearly $10 million in grants in the 2022-2023 biennium. The Ohio General Assembly allotted an additional $10 million to the program as part of the current 2024-2025 biennium, $5 million of which will be awarded next year.
Ohio’s Office of Criminal Justice Services, which is administering the grant program, received $10.7 million worth of grant requests for this round of funding. All qualifying agencies that applied for grants to establish new body-worn camera programs received funding, and the remaining funds went to existing programs to upgrade aging cameras, add storage capacity, or hire record-retention personnel.
DeWine announced that the state will award nearly $4.8 million in grant funding to help local law enforcement agencies across Ohio cover costs associated with body-worn camera programs.
