The Jefferson Police Department recently received approval to purchase new equipment to replace failing equipment.

The City Council approved a $34,000 expense for the police department to purchase new body cameras and in-car cameras. Police Chief Mark Clouse says the company they have been using is Digital Ally, but he adds that they’ve experienced recent difficulties with them.

“We’re not able to contact them and get any support out of that company at this time. So if you have a camera go down or break, to give them a call and just get some parts sent to you overnight to get your camera up and going again, that’s just not happening right now.”

Clouse points out that they’ve used Digital Ally for nine years, but recently their stock market price went down from $25.67 per share to $2.65 and they’ve laid off 90-percent of their workforce. After discussing it with the law enforcement committee-which includes a couple of city council members-it was recommended that the issue be addressed with the full council.

Clouse says some of the benefits of the new cameras include: high-definition quality, improved night vision and the video is automatically taken off of the camera as soon as an officer is at the law enforcement center and it is then stored on a server. City Administrator Mike Palmer describes another added benefit.

“It’s so important to have these body cameras and in-car cameras. Especially anymore with officers being at such risk of going out and having someone just make a false accusation against them. At least this gives proof positive that who’s telling the truth and who’s not.”

Palmer notes that payment for the equipment will come out of the City’s general fund balance. In a related note, the Greene County Supervisors agreed to schedule a budget amendment for later this month so that the Greene County Sheriff’s office could also buy the same equipment for the deputies and their vehicles. The total cost for the Sheriff’s office is about $70,000.