Funding proposed for KCKPD body-worn cameras

For the second time in as many years, the KCK Police Department is considering body-worn cameras.

The first time, county commissioners turned down a grant that would fund the cameras. 

But on Monday, a county commissioner told 41 Action News she is confident KCK police officers will soon hit the streets with body-worn cameras.

The tiny devices are making big strides with law enforcement agencies across the country and in Wyandotte County.

“It was another tool that they had to learn the proper way on how to do it, but they all caught on pretty quickly,” Major Kelli Bailiff with the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office said.

The sheriff’s office launched almost 70 body cameras last year. Deputies use them while on patrol, at the jail, registering offenders, and soon they’ll be rolling in Wyandotte County courtrooms. 

“Since the inception of using these body cameras, it has helped clear many officers on some citizens’ complaints, but it has also helped clear some criminal case about some exact data and details that went on about that was actually part of the crime scene,” Bailiff said.

She added a lot of research was done beforehand, from testing out the equipment to figuring out the math. 

While each camera is about $250, video storage is a costly expense their local partners know well.

In 2015, KCK Police Chief Terry Zeigler told county commissioners that over a 10-year period it would cost his department $3.3 million to operate the body cameras.

“To store the short and long-term data or files is about $800,000,” Zeigler said during the presentation.

Back then, there was a $350,000 federal grant on the table to help out initial costs, but the commissioners turned it down in a unanimous vote.

“We’re not prepared to take this grant because we’re not ready to move forward on the cameras in this format,” Mayor Mark Holland said then. 

Commissioner Melissa Bynum told 41 Action News that’s she confident the $350,000 proposed in the 2018 budget for body worn cameras will pass. 

Bynum added that since the grant was turned down, they’ve approved other funding to help the department get ready for body cameras like installing a fiber network.