Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office debuts body cameras
Published 3:50 pm Wednesday, December 21, 2022
EVERETT — Starting this week, Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies are debuting body cameras amid a broad push in policing for the equipment to improve transparency.
In September, the County Council approved a $3.8 million agreement with industry leader Axon to provide 340 body cameras to the sheriff’s office. The program costs about $455,000 per year through 2030, a sheriff’s office spokesperson said. Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers spearheaded the push.
The agreement also included nearly $900,000 for Tasers from Axon.
The county also funded several new positions in the sheriff’s office for tech support and records request specialists, sheriff’s spokesperson Courtney O’Keefe noted in an email.
On Tuesday, eight deputies and two sergeants from the sheriff’s violent offender task force and another squad started wearing the cameras, the office announced.
Through the first few months next year, all commissioned staff at the sheriff’s office will be trained and outfitted with the cameras, according to a press release. When deputies arrive on scene, they will turn their body-worn cameras on to record both audio and video.
“This is a welcome step in bringing additional transparency to interactions between Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office Deputies and residents,” Somers said in a statement. “I appreciate our partnership with the Sheriff’s Office, and the work by everyone in the County to ensure our justice system is as equitable as possible. I look forward to the continued roll-out of the body worn cameras.”
Last year, 12 deputies tested out body cameras for six weeks as a trial before launching the program.
“We are excited about this next step for our agency,” Sheriff Adam Fortney said in a statement. “I have been a longtime advocate for body cameras to increase public trust and transparency, improve officer safety and provide an accurate record of law enforcement interactions.”
The sheriff’s office is not the first agency in the county to wear body cameras.
In fact, many local police leaders have said they plan to push for the equipment amid legislation passed in Olympia in 2021 requiring law enforcement to record some interrogations in an attempt to increase transparency in felony and juvenile cases.
In Everett, police started wearing body cameras in 2021.
In Lynnwood, the City Council allocated $530,000 in federal COVID-19 relief funds to outfit local officers with them.
Mukilteo also approved funding last year.
State Rep. Strom Peterson, D-Edmonds, sponsored the legislation spurring law enforcement to get body cameras. He said Wednesday he didn’t expect that when he proposed the measure, part of a suite of police reforms passed by Democratic lawmakers that year. But it was a “positive, unintended consequence,” Peterson told The Daily Herald.
Now a County Council member and chair of the council’s Law and Justice Committee, he said it’s “great” the program is underway.
“This improves transparency and public safety on any side of an interaction,” Peterson said. “More information is better.”
Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.
