Gregg County Sheriff’s Office to receive upgraded body cameras

GREGG COUNTY, Texas (KLTV) - The Gregg County Sheriff’s Office is upgrading their current body camera system. The new WatchGuard cameras will be purchased using ARPA funds in the amount of $78,881.

Chief Deputy Craig Harrington said purchasing the highest quality equipment will ultimately help the public.

“Any criminal case, that’s the first thing folks wanna see is, ‘We wanna see the bodycam footage.’ So, it’s important that not only do we have the good footage, but we have the footage readily available and can get that out in a timely manner,” Harrington said.

They currently use an earlier WatchGuard law enforcement camera system. It runs their bodycams, dash cams and backseat cams.

“The new body camera that we’re getting is going to be from WatchGuard, and it does fully integrate with the current system that we have, so it saves us hundreds of thousands of dollars. We don’t have to go and upgrade any of our in-car units. We’re actually just upgrading the body cameras,” said Harrington.

Lieutenant Gregg McCasland said the new bodycams will have a longer battery life and will hold four times more data than the current ones.

“The batteries are external versus internal, so it gives us an opportunity to change batteries when we need to without having to open up the device. There’s a lot of functions with the new body cameras that we don’t currently have that will make our job easier,” he said.

Internal data on the cams will still be kept for 90 days, but if it’s a criminal case, the data will be turned in to the district attorney’s office, where it will be kept permanently.

The ARPA funds will also cover the mounts used to attach the cameras to uniforms and the new software to run the cameras.

The sheriff’s office will receive the new body cameras in the next four to five months.

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