In May, the Erie County Legislature allocated $600,000 for body cameras for sheriff's deputies, however the Division of Information and Support Services was given control of the funds.
- Legislature approved transferring $600,000 to sheriff for body cams
- Transfer contingent on inclusion of DISS and choice of proposal by end of September
- Legislators argued over motivations before the vote
Sheriff Tim Howard, R, argued the money should be transferred to his office and Thursday the legislature voted to do that.
"I feel successful. We finally got the sheriff's office to comply with moving forward selecting a vendor and upon doing so," Legislature Chair April Baskin, D, said.
The transfer is contingent upon the sheriff including the information division and recommending a vendor for the legislature to approve at the end of September. Sheriff spokesperson Scott Zylka said there are no issues with conditions and the office plans to begin opening proposals Friday.
"There's been no delays, so right on time. The entities came together," Zylka said.
During the meeting, though, there was turmoil.
"It's wrong," Minority Leader Joe Lorigo, C, said. "It's a stunt. I'm tired of it."
Members of the minority conference argued the majority blindsided them and the sheriff's office introducing the amendment Thursday.
"I think the context of the amendment is better looked at from the frame of the personal vendetta that the chairwoman has with the sheriff," Lorigo said.
Chairwoman April Baskin admitted during the meeting she does not "trust" the sheriff. She produced copies of an email from March in which the sheriff asked if she was "clever enough" to ask for video having to do with use of force incidents.
"It was offensive," Baskin said. "I think it's a testament of how a lot of leaders nationally feel about duly elected female leaders stepping out and being passionate on issues that they find to be wrong or offensive or biased."
Lorigo said the email was not a good look for the sheriff but questioned why Thursday was the first time he was hearing about it or seeing it.
"If the legislature chair was that upset about it, she should have brought it out in public, she should have mentioned it to the sheriff one of the times that he was here between March when the email was sent and today," he said.
Baskin said she was using the time to make Freedom of Information Law requests for the implied additional body cam video of an excessive force case at a Buffalo Bills game that has driven the debate. She said her colleagues were "aggressively" asking why she was hesitant to release body camera funds to the sheriff.
"I felt it appropriate to explain why," she said. “There's obviously distrust between myself and the sheriff's office. It does not start or end with that email but that definitely has something to do with it."
The sheriff was out of town Thursday but his spokesperson expected him to address the email personally at a later date.
As for any additional body cam footage from the Bills game incident, he says that will be made public at the trial.