Clay County Commission Approves Sheriff’s Office Buying Body Cameras

The board unanimously approved the department up to 50,000 dollars to buy 22 cameras.

CLAY COUNTY, Minn. –  The Clay County Board of Commissioners allows the sheriff’s office to move forward with purchasing body cameras after getting public input.

Clay County will soon be equipping deputies with body cameras.

The public response was overwhelmingly positive.

“I fully support any technology that protects our police from false accusations,” read Clay County Sheriff mark Empting.

“This purchase, I think, is something that should have taken place a long time ago. Good move from your department and all that work there,” read Sheriff Empting.

“I think we should have had these body cameras a long time ago. I think we should be buying the best we can on the market for all the officers. It’s a great deal and we really need them,” a member of the public said.

The sheriff says deputies should be able to order the body cameras by the end of the year.

The board says this is something that can’t wait.

“I don’t think we should be waiting to order those cameras. We should give the sheriff the authority to do that now,” Sheriff Empting said.

Sheriff Empting hopes with this new tool they can create an even better relationship with the community.

“More accountability to us. The transparency to the public and then, also for the safety of the deputies, safety of the sheriff’s office and safety and clay county itself,” he said.

He has no doubt this move will be done by more departments across the country.

“I think you’re going to see this trend as we move forward where more departments are going to start getting body cams,” he adds.

Some of the features the body camera has includes a record after the fact feature where officers would be able to go back and get the video if the camera was not activated.

Here is the link to learn about the body camera equipment and policy.