Expansion of agency Body Worn Camera Program

The proposed project is to expand the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office Body-Worn Camera (BWC) Program. Launched in 2020, it provided cameras and training to 175 enforcement personnel, as well as storage and records management for the video collected while on duty.  In this second phase, the primary activity will be to procure 100 new cameras and assign them to 30 School Resource Officers, 13 Marine Patrol Deputies assigned to the Special Operations Division, 20 Reserve Deputies that provide support to the agency’s full time deputies, 8 Narcotics Detectives, 4 Court Security Deputies, and 6 Patrol Deputies covering a newly established patrol district.  The remaining 19 cameras will be used for future expansion. This will increase the number of sworn POST-certified officers wearing cameras on the job from 175 to 275. Other activities will include in-house training for the officers receiving new cameras; working collaboratively with a TTA provider to review the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office existing body-worn camera policy; and attending the next scheduled BWC national conference. The project will promote justice by providing additional evidentiary material to corroborate, supplement or reveal inconsistencies of verbal testimony. This will help provide a more accurate, detailed body of evidence in court for the benefit of both prosecution and defense. Additionally, the cameras will not only protect the arresting officers from false accusations or recollections, but also ensure an arrested citizen's constitutional right to a fair trial.  The cameras are also expected to help foster a greater sense of personal accountability among officers and the public.