By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir has stayed under budget every year since being elected in 2012. At Tuesday's Barton County Commission meeting, he was able to use that frugality to the benefit of his department with the purchase of 13 in-car cameras and 13 body cameras to be worn by his deputies. Instead of taking the $134,290 purchase from his budget this year, Commission Chair Barb Esfeld agreed to use the county's equipment replacement general fund for the purchase.
"This is money that Brian had already turned in on his budget last year, and may do that again," she said. "I was looking at it, and I know we got hung up in the insurance situation, but hopefully this is protection, as we discussed before, for our officers."
Last November, Bellendir sought insurance bids for his office. It became apparent that body cameras would be required to reduce premiums. That, in addition to failing cameras in patrol vehicles, meant purchasing new cameras. Bellendir selected Motorola so the county can maintain its own data.
"We will be able to recall our own video," he said. "It's ours, it's on-site, and we can keep it as long as we need to. We don't have to go to a third party to get it."
Barton County Sheriff's Office deputies have never worn body cameras in a full-time capacity. Bellendir said that, beyond liability, the cameras can also help secure convictions.
"This will be useful for documentation for court purposes, for liability purposes, and for officer complaints," he said. "A lot of this stuff, particularly if it's an on-view crime where the officer is present when it happens, we can download and save that segment, and that winds up as evidence in court so we can also use that for prosecution."