Buying body cams

The sheriff’s office will be using vehicle and body cameras starting in January.

Jay County Commissioners approved a $264,626 agreement Monday with Motorola for new body and vehicle cameras at Jay County Sheriff’s Office and Jay County Jail. The cameras will be purchased using American Rescue Plan Act dollars, a decision approved last week by commissioners and Jay County Council.

Plans are to buy 13 police vehicle cameras and 25 officer body cameras. The cameras should be delivered in about three weeks. (Sheriff Ray Newton noted his department may wait until Jan. 1 to begin using the new devices.)

Newton has been pushing for the county to purchase body cameras since he took office in 2023. In February 2023, commissioners signed an application to apply for a matching grant through Small, Rural and Tribal Body-Worn Camera micro grant program in hopes of securing dollars for body cameras. Commissioners approved a capital improvement project list — it serves as a potential list of projects the county could fund using economic development income tax (EDIT) dollars — in September 2023 that included purchasing new body cameras for law enforcement at $102,000.

Community coordinator Nate Kimball has also been on the lookout for grants to cover purchasing body and vehicle cameras. In October, commissioners OK’d East Central Indiana Regional Planning District to apply for a United States Department of Justice grant on behalf of Newton for the cameras and video storage space.

Newton advocated for the purchase during the joint session Wednesday between commissioners, council and Jay County Redevelopment Commission.

“This is something that we need due to the fact that it’s (a) liability,” explained Newton. “Cameras don’t lie, and that’s what we need.”

Newton also spoke in favor of purchasing body cameras after the department fired a Jay County Jail correctional officer in February for engaging in sexual acts with an inmate. (John R. Norris of Dunkirk pleaded guilty in August to sexual misconduct, a Level 5 felony. He was sentenced to three years in Indiana Department of Correction with two years suspended and one year of home detention.) 

A second correctional officer, William Bentz of Portland, was also arrested and fired in May for sexual misconduct by a service provider with detainee. (He’s been charged in Jay Circuit Court with one Level 5 felony and three Level 6 felonies for sexual misconduct, with his final pre-trial hearing set for Feb. 14.)

“I think once we start getting body cameras back there, cameras don’t lie, and it’s going to tell us everything we need to know,” Newton said in February.

Also Monday, commissioners heard Jay County Jail passed its annual state inspection recently, along with the state fire marshal’s annual inspection and boiler inspections. Newton explained the largest suggestion from the state amid inspections had to do with updating jail policies. Consultant Charles Braun is in the midst of reviewing and making changes to the county’s policies for the sheriff’s office and jail staff. Newton shared hopes for the new standard operating procedures to be finished by February.