(Juneau) With the increased demand for body cam footage, many police agencies have been increasing their efforts in production so that it can get out to the public as soon as possible. Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt says the most expensive part is not the body cameras themselves.
“It’s the storage of the videos, which is very, very expensive, especially as the quality of cameras increase,” says Schmidt. “That’s more storage space that’s needed, and so that very expensive. But as you’re alluding to, the redaction and review of videos before they can be released to the public, that’s very, very expensive as well.”
Schmidt says that in Dodge County, he had to request a new support staff position to review and redact their body cameras and the squad car cameras. The sheriff says that request required $80,000 dollars from taxpayers.
“This year what I did is I knew I was going to be vacant with some patrol deputies, so I reduced my patrol division line to compensate for that,” Schmidt says.
Schmidt says it is going to be different next year because he will once again be fully staffed.
