PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Clark County Sheriff’s Office began a 30-day field test of Axon body-worn and vehicle-mounted cameras in the first step of a wide rollout later in 2023.
“We selected three deputies and a sergeant that are going to be doing a trial for it. And so today’s their first day wearing them out there,” said Sgt. Chris Skidmore with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
Two vehicles will also be equipped with the new cameras during the month-long trial run.
The trial period will allow them to learn the workflows that come along with the cameras as well as give deputies a chance to familiarize themselves with the equipment, the sheriff’s office said.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office has 146 sworn positions currently.
“This is just an opportunity to really get a chance to say, ‘Hey here’s what we need to work on,'” Skidmore said. “We have a draft policy in place and then maybe we can say, ‘Hey maybe this workflow didn’t work for us, so we need to try this.’”
Support staff will also be assigned to a public disclosure unit and will learn how to manage, preserve and redact videos, officials said.
This is just the first step according to Administrative Chief Michael McCabe who said that work is still in progress to fully implement the program.
“This is an expensive program to get started. The citizens here in Clark County passed a public safety sales tax, and this was one of the things it was kind of designed to pay for,” said Skidmore.
The timing of the rollout depends, in part, on how the trial period goes. But the plans are to have this in place well before the end of 2023.
“We’re looking at kind of the first part of the third quarter; you know, late summer, early fall, to start that rollout,” Skidmore told KOIN 6 News.