Body cameras are at least a few years away for county law enforcement.
When La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith took office, he said body cameras were on the way to protect both deputies and civilians. But the county budget, which is looking lean in the next two years, will force postponement of that investment, he said.
“It’s just a budgetary constraint at this point; 2017 is going to be a bad year for the county, and 2018 looks just as bad if not worse. So, we haven’t had a lot of public demand to do that; especially with other investments and tools that we have,” Smith said. “We’ll pursue it when we financially can pursue it.”
The Durango Police Department has requested money to purchase body cameras for its officers in 2017.
County revenues are projected to drop $10.8 million, or 13.6 percent, next year compared with 2016. Most of that can be attributed to an 18 percent drop in property tax, thanks to declining natural gas prices.
The shortfall will challenge departments countywide, including the Sheriff’s Office, which met with county staff members in October to discuss specifics of next year’s budget.
Smith said increasing the pay scale for established deputies and new recruits, which is not competitive with the Durango Police Department, is a top priority, especially as both the population and patrols increase.
Body cameras, which would be integrated with the fleet’s existing camera systems, would cost in the realm of $900 per deputy, Smith said.
“With officers working 12-hour shifts, it wouldn’t be easy to share them because there wouldn’t be time to charge them in between,” Smith said. “We’d have to invest around $30,000 to equip everybody.”
The department spent between $80,000 and $100,000 in 2015 to upgrade its in-car camera system, complete with new cameras, technology that can record up to 60 seconds prior to activation, and a server that retains footage. It replaced outdated technology that recorded surveillance onto discs.
Footage from ordinary traffic stops without citations are retained 30 days, while incidents resulting in citations are kept as evidence.
Smith said the system routinely proves beneficial to the department as it did earlier this month when a deputy held at gunpoint a Durango man who was driving erratically and refused to cooperate with law enforcement. In that instance, the entire incident was captured on camera.
Body cameras for law enforcement officials have become a widespread reform among public safety agencies nationwide as a means of increasing officers’ accountability by collecting concrete evidence. But Smith notes that cameras are not a fix-all for police-civilian conflicts.
“I think they’re just one tool in a toolbox,” he said. “But I don’t want to downplay their role; they’re good evidentiary tools. That’s why we invested in the car cameras, and eventually will make the investment in body cameras.”
jpace@durangoherald.com
