Pierce County deputies to get body, dash cameras after council approves budget
Pierce County has allocated $1.75 million for body cameras and vehicle dash cameras for the Sheriff’s Department.
In a biennial adjustment approved by council Dec. 8, $40,000 also was added for naloxone training for the department. Naloxone is a medication designed to rapidly reverse opioid overdose.
Pierce County cities, like Tacoma and Gig Harbor, recently added body cameras to their police departments. Up until June, no police department in Pierce County had body cameras.
Sheriff’s officials have told The News Tribune they like the idea of cameras but were worried about the cost of holding, processing, redacting and distributing video footage under state public disclosure law.
The council added six new staff positions to fill public records for video footage and provide tech support at an additional cost of $230,000 annually.
“Council remains committed to public safety, as noted through its allocation to purchase dash and body cameras to establish this new program within the department,” then-Chairman Doug Richardson said in a statement.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Darren Moss said the department feels the funding is sufficient. Moss told The News Tribune on Jan. 5 the department has decided to fill four positions initially and wait to see if the two other positions are needed.
“The six was an estimate based on other agencies, but we don’t know yet because we haven’t done this before,” he said. “We will add more if we need more.”
Moss said he believes an order for the cameras has already been placed.
“We are currently working with the Guild for policy and implementation programs and hope to be using the cameras this summer,” said Micah Lundborg, the departments’ chief of operations.
The council also approved an additional sergeant position to the department, which has 300 commissioned deputies.
Sheriff’s officials have been calling for the council to bolster staffing for years, quoting a 2016 study that shows the department has .7 of a deputy per 1,000 residents. The King County Sheriff’s Office has more than two deputies for every 1,000 residents.
“Our staffing study looked at calls for service, response times, geography, shift scheduled, overtime, and other issues,” Moss said.
This year, 15 deputies were hired in August with $10,000 signing bonuses. The department is still 19 deputies short of being fully staffed, Moss said.
The council also allocated $40,000 to provide naloxone training and distribution to all deputies. Moss said the department has never provided the overdose-reversal medication to deputies before. Previously, the drug was only given to supervisors.
The allocations for the sheriff’s department were part of a $2.4 billion biennial budget that included funding for day-to-day operations of the county and some special items, including $460,000 towards improving sustainability programs.
Pierce County will spend $160,000 for a sustainability manager in an effort to reduce waste and increase energy efficiency and $250,000 to update the county’s 2020 sustainability plan.
Up to $50,000 was allotted to hire a consultant to study shorelines and provide recommendations on dredged material and buffers for restoration.
This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 5:10 AM.
