By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
Some Ellis County Sheriff Deputies will be sporting new technology, in the form of body cameras, in the new year.
According to Sheriff Ed Harbin, over the next year the department will purchase eight new body cameras.
The VISTA WiFI body cameras from Watch Guard work in conjunction with the in-car systems already installed in patrol vehicles.
Harbin said they had been looking into purchasing body cameras and said they made the decision to purchase the body cameras and update the in-car systems at the same time.
Ellis County will purchase a total of eight body cameras and six new in-car systems. Two of the in-car systems were new enough that, according to Harbin, they only had to purchase the body cameras and software to go with those systems.
Harbin said they included money in the 2017 budget to purchase both the body cameras and in-car systems.
The eight body cams and six new in-car systems are estimated to cost a total of $7,300 after trading in the old systems.
The body cameras will most likely be attached to the officers chest and work in the same way the in-car systems do — once the cars emergency lights and sirens are activated, both cameras automatically begin recording. The cameras can also be turned on manually by the officer.
The officer involved shooting in November did not weigh on their decision to purchase the body cameras, according to Harbin.
In his opinion, if the officer would have had a body camera, it would not have changed anything and that they already had evidence to determine what happened.
According to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the KBI’s portion of the investigation into the Nov. 8 shooting death of Kenton Kobza by an Ellis County Sheriff’s deputy is complete. It has been handed over to the office of the Ellis County Attorney, which is now conducting its own investigation.
Harbin said he believes the body cameras are just another tool for law enforcement officials.
“Some people thought that that (a body camera) was going to be the thing that was going to take of everything and things wouldn’t happen anymore,” Harbin said. “(But) let’s face it, all this is going to do is give you a recording of what’s happening.”
With the new technology will also come some new challenges. Harbin said among those are privacy concerns. Oftentimes, officers go into situations where people be in vulnerable positions.
“We don’t want to go into a situation where there’s something at your residence and we go in there,” Harbin said, “and a year later that’s on YouTube because of who you are.”
They are currently working on developing a policy dealing with camera use.
“They know when they use the car cams, so we really don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” Harbin said. “We just want to make sure, using these, that we don’t invade privacy.”
He admitted that there will be times that that will happen and said that is “an unintended consequence.”
There is also concern that the video could be released by defendants in a case in an effort to humiliate a victim.
According to Harbin, at one time in-car cameras were a luxury item for law enforcement departments, but now he believes most departments have them. The Ellis County Sheriff’s Office has had in-car cameras for more than 20 years.
Harbin said they have had people make complaints about an incident, but they are able to go look at the video and proved the person was exaggerating their version of the story.
Currently, officers burn any video captured onto a DVD, and it is kept as part of the evidence into the incident.
The department is looking into a cost-effective way to store the footage, Harbin said. Storage and the cost is a large concern for small departments. But Harbin said they are looking into sharing storage devices with other departments in an effort to save money.
The eight marked Ellis County Sheriff mark patrol vehicles will be equipped with the new cameras and officer body cameras.