Sheriff's Office to implement body cameras

Following the lead of law enforcement agencies around the nation, The Steele County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) is set to implement body worn cameras.

The Steele County Board of Commissioners authorized the purchase in the amount of $141,120, which includes 26 cameras, unlimited cloud storage for each camera and other support services for the next five years.

The SCSO has been exploring body camera options for several years. While the devices have grown increasingly common, Sheriff Lon Thiele told the board approximately half of Minnesota law enforcement agencies have yet to implement them.

“They’re kind of doing what I was doing, wait and see how they tested with a lot of other agencies, but also looking for a price reduction too. That ain’t happening,” he said.

According to Thiele, the SCSO had around $120,000 budgeted for the purchase, but was able to tap into public safety aid to make up the difference.

The SCSO received two bids for body cameras, from manufacturers Motorola and Axon. It ultimately opted for Motorola which, in addition to being cheaper, offered compatibility with the existing cameras in the office’s squad cars.

The 26 cameras will be enough to equip Thiele and all his deputies, with two spares.

“I think these cameras will be good because it’ll show how professional our deputies are, and it can save the county from several frivolous lawsuits in the future,” said Commissioner James Brady.

The commissioners also approved a body camera policy from Lexipol, a private company that serves law enforcement and other public agencies around the nation. According to Thiele, nearly every county in the Minnesota Sheriffs’ Association relies on policies from Lexipol.

The policy requires officers to equip themselves with a body camera before going into service, and to activate the camera during situations including traffic stops, field interviews and contact that becomes adversarial, as well as others left to the officer’s discretion.

Board Chair Jim Abbe initially voiced concern that the policy requires officers to judge for themselves when its “appropriate or valuable” to record an incident.

“Are we opening our employees up to liability if it’s discretionary when you turn your camera on and turn it off?” he asked.

Thiele argued the policy did not put officers at risk, noting the camera has a fallback setting in case an officer fails to activate it at the appropriate time.

The camera is constantly recording data, even when it’s not activated. This gives the SCSO a window of two to three days to retrieve data from an incident that was not properly recorded. If the data is not retrieved within that time period, it is deleted. Data captured while the camera is activated must be retained for at least 180 days, or longer depending on the nature of the incident.

Sergeant Chad Forystek, accompanying Thiele to answer technical questions, noted the office’s squad car cameras have the same fallback feature, so deputies should already know how it works.

County Attorney Robert Jarrett, who recently joined the county after serving as Rochester Police Department’s professional standards manager and department attorney, noted his previous employer also used policy from Lexipol.

“I would support this language. It is similar to other counties, and doesn’t specifically set up the county for liability,” said Jarrett.

However, he did note that an officer’s employment could be impacted if they were found in violation of the policy.

Jarrett described body cameras as an “important step for the county to take,” as it would both hold officers accountable and quickly resolve frivolous complaints against them.

Once the body cameras are implemented, the SCSO will conduct random audits to ensure recordings are being filed correctly.