BUTLER COUNTY, Ohio — The Butler County Sheriff's Office is moving forward with plans to implement body cameras after receiving a state grant in December.
On Monday, the Butler County Commissioners awarded a contract to the company that will supply the equipment.
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said he previously felt his deputies didn't need body cams.
"We already have transparency here at the Butler County Sheriff's Office and we couldn't afford them. They were very expensive — still very expensive," he said. "If it wasn't for the grant that we're receiving for this, we still wouldn't be able to afford them."
Jones said he knows the state wants law enforcement agencies to have them.
"Eventually, they're going to make you have them. You won't be able to get grants at all for anything else," he said.
The sheriff's office was awarded $168,053 from the Ohio Body Worn Camera Grant, which Jones said will provide cameras for about 100 deputies.
Jones knows many have mixed feelings.
"It will make some people happy in the community and some it won't matter," he said. "Will it be enough? Never enough for the naysayers."
The Middletown Police Department was awarded $49,608 from the same grant but turned it down.
"We were hoping we would get the full amount with the grant. We didn't," Middletown Police Chief David Birk said.
Middletown's city manager, Paul Lolli, said when the city set its budget for the year, it didn't account for a record redaction specialist's salary.
"We felt that that would've added around $175,000 to the city's 2023 budget, which we were not prepared to do at the time," he said.
Lolli said the budget did include funding for two more police officers and three more school resource officers.
"Which should we do: put more police officers on the street or put video cameras on the officers?" he said.
The city chose more officers.
Birk said he considered having current employees take on the responsibilities of a redaction specialist.
"The basic needs right now of the police department, everything's covered. I don't have the ability to shift people to work on just redaction," he said.
Birk isn't giving up on getting body cams for his department, though. The city manager said his administration will prioritize the needed funding in the next budget.
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