Stafford sheriff distributes body cameras to improve transparency

All Stafford County sheriff’s deputies will wear body cameras by the summer.

Sheriff David Decatur took questions about his department’s new body cameras, which will record interactions between law enforcement and residents. The system, developed by Axon and approved by the Stafford Board of County Supervisors just over a year ago, merges other cameras already used in the deputys’ cars and on taser weapons.

A total of 15 deputies have been using cameras for the past two months. Supply chain issues delayed the arrival of most cameras, said Stafford County Supervisor Crystal Vanuch of Rockhill and the county’s Public Safety Committee Chairman.

As more cameras come in, they will be distributed to the remainder of Decatur’s 235 sheriffs deputies.

“I think the important thing is, and I want the community to know, is that we want to provide the very best service and provide within our control the best quality of life for those who live and visit Stafford County,” Decatur told PLN on Tuesday, January 17, 2023. “And we want to ensure we’re doing our best. And body cameras are just another example of being professional.”

Several non-profit groups and residents called for police body cameras 2020 to be used across the U.S. in the wake of the death of George Floyd, who resisted arrested died at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer in 2020.

The body cameras are a first for Stafford County, where deputies have used in-car dash cameras for at least 10 years. Now, the sheriff’s office has 177 “fleet-three” cameras in use inside cars, on bodies, and taser weapons.

Designed for transparency and to protect the public and law enforcement, the cameras will activate during public interactions with law enforcement, including traffic stops. They will automatically start any time an officer pulls out a gun or taser.

“The deputies wanted the cameras as much as we wanted them to have them,” said Vanuch.

The new cameras produce large amounts of footage that must be stored and reviewed. Since being rolled out two months ago in the county, the sheriff’s office has collected 27,000 videos.

As part of its ongoing budget, the Board of Supervisors provided funding for new employees in the sheriff’s and commonwealth attorneys’ offices who will review, edit, and make videos available to attorneys for use in court.

In 2021, a team from Stafford County, including Decatur and Vanuch, traveled to Virginia Beach to see how that city’s police department used body cameras.

The sheriff used what he learned there to create a body camera policy for Stafford County. “We’re always going to be mindful and paying attention to what adjustments we need to make,” said Decatur.

Neighboring jurisdiction Prince William County began using police body cameras in 2017.