Sheriff’s office bringing in new safety equipment

By Jenna Wilson

The Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office is rolling out new security equipment purchased with federal funds.

Law enforcement officers have started testing out their new body cameras in an effort to upgrade the department’s security measures.

“We have all the equipment here and a couple that have already been rolled out in trial mode,” said Buchanan County Sheriff Bill Puett. “The same two officers that originally evaluated them have been wearing them and they seem to be working well. The image quality is good and hopefully we’re able to get everyone geared up in them soon.”

Puett said these cameras will also be integrated with their in-car camera systems as well.

In addition, the sheriff’s office also started replacing security cameras inside the jail with updated ones, which officers say will help improve transparency and build trust between law enforcement and the community.

“We’d often have allegations that something happened and now it’ll help to have recordings with us to look back on,” Puett said. “Of course, understanding that the cameras only capture certain fields of view, but it will assist with giving us some additional information and we’re going to use them in most of our assignments, including at the jail so when a deputy or a member goes into a cell and an inmate is unruly, we’ll have that recorded as well.”

The in-car camera systems will start being installed next week, Puett added.

Body-worn cameras are close to being in the hands of each sheriff but officers said this task will take longer to complete as they want to make sure all computer interfaces are properly working.