By Nick Ferraro, Pioneer Press — Jan 26, 2022
The Dakota County sheriff’s office has been awarded a nearly $170,000 federal grant to expand its body camera program.
The grant is part of the Justice Department’s body-worn camera policy and implementation program, which Dakota County applied to last year with support from U.S. Rep. Angie Craig. The Justice Department set aside more than $7.6 million in 2021 for agencies to add body cameras and related expenses.
The sheriff’s office started its body camera program in June 2020, putting them on 52 deputies, three school resource officers and jail supervisors. With the grant, the sheriff’s office now will add another 90 cameras to more jail staff, investigators in the civil service division, transport security and court security, Chief Deputy Joe Leko said.
A survey this past summer by the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association found that about half of the state’s law enforcement agencies in the state have body-cameras — a number that has doubled the past three years, said Jeff Potts, the group’s executive director. A lack of funding, especially with smaller departments away from the Twin Cities metro, is preventing others from starting up body camera programs, he said.