SAN ANTONIO — After spending nearly a million dollars on body cameras for the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, the sheriff is looking to opt out.
Earlier this week, county commissioners approved a free 180-day field test proposal with Axon Enterprise.
Two years ago, the former sheriff purchased body cameras that use the Utility system.
Sheriff Javier Salazar said the progress of Utility is slow due to the lack of a timely data transfer system which has caused them to use fewer body cameras than they possess.
He wants to switch brands to put more cameras in the field.
"We know that the other camera brand that we are trying, that's already been tested, the San Antonio Police Department is currently using that system and they are successfully able to get video from over 2,000 cameras to the DA's office in a timely fashion," said Sheriff Salazar.
Salazar said they plan on starting the trial as early as next week.
If the county decides to switch to a new body camera company, the sheriff plans to use a buy back program to offload the current cameras.
No word on how much money that would recover.
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