Hundreds of new body cameras are now in use across Central New York. Two local Sheriff's offices tell us, that they embrace the new tool.
Captain Vincent Ferrara is road ready with his new body camera, along with the entire police unit at the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office.
“The Sheriff's office purchased several Axon body cameras that were outfitted for the police department members, which we think is a great tool not only for our members but also for the community, and certainly helps with transparency," said Sgt. Jon Seeber, of the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office.
In May of 2021, the county legislators approved about $600,000 for the body cameras. Five months later, Axon Enterprise won the contract to supply the units.
Andy Meaney is the Axon Enterprise roadshow team lead for the Arizona-based company that develops technology and weapons products for military, law enforcement, and civilians.
“The big thing now-not only it protects the officer and the public so everyone knows from officer point of view to subject point of view the truth is out there and our biggest accents biggest mission is to protect truth and protect life," said Meaney.
Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood says his team will be equipped with body cameras this summer also.
“We recently purchased them for our whole, all the deputies on our road patrol. They just came in. So we're getting up and running with them right now when training trying to set things up and we also purchase additional units for our correctional facility to put back in there and we're really excited about it. They these things that document the truth, they document what happened and it protects everybody involved," said Hood.
Onondaga and Madison County law enforcement and prosecutors say they embrace the technology as it's designed to increase transparency.
The office of the Onondaga County Legislature says the Onondaga Sheriff's Office has around 250 body cameras.