Chilton County law enforcement getting new body cams

CHILTON Co., Ala. (WBRC) - Cutting edge technology is headed to Chilton County law enforcement departments.

Several officers and deputies will test out new body camera technology designed to keep officers safe, and provide more transparency.

Right now, body cams are almost always placed somewhere on the chest, and authorities say a big flaw is there is only one camera, so it’s hard to capture everything. But this new technology will attempt to eliminate that problem entirely.

There will be four camera in the new piece of gear, that way officers and deputies will have video of everything happening around them.

And thanks to Wi-Fi and cloud technology, department heads will have access to the cameras 24/7 so they can see in real time what their officers are doing.

Clanton Police Chief Eric Smitherman believes departments have come a long way in their effort to be transparent and thinks the new body cams will be a big success.

“As a reserve there was no such thing as a body camera. There was basically the officer’s word. Unfortunately the day we live in now, our word is not what it was years ago. We went from VHS tapes on our shoulder, then duct-taped to the dash, to now moving forward into some of the most advanced technology I have ever seen,” Smitherman said.

Not only will the Chilton County Sheriff’s deputies and Clanton Police officers be wearing the gear, each department will be providing feedback on ways to improve it.

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