The Cole County Sheriff's Department has joined six other Central Missouri law enforcement agencies around the state using body cameras.
This month, Cole County joined Boone, Callaway, Camden, Miller, Moniteau and Osage counties in Central Missouri as sheriff's departments using body cameras.
Jefferson City Police Department officials said for the time being the department was not looking to get body cameras, mainly due to funding.
"We actually got the cameras at the start of the year, but it took a long time to finalize policies and get all the equipment to run the camera system in place," Capt. John Wheeler said.
"We feel this is the right thing to do the way the country is leaning," he added. "It shows transparency and that we have got nothing to hide. Our only concerns are the possibility that videos could be used against us, or how someone who wants to embarrass us could use it. We don't want people taking a small part out of a 15-minute video and say this is why these guys are bad."
The department has 45 cameras, and they are being used in most divisions of the department: civil, patrol, jail and prisoner transports, animal control and school resource officers.
At around $580 per camera, the total bill was $26,338.63.
The cameras are recording when there is a red "Public Awareness Light" on the front which flashes "REC." The deputies can turn them on and off manually.
The department will keep the footage for 180 days. Any video data is considered evidence and will be kept until destruction orders are obtained after a case is closed.
If the department purchases more cameras in the future, Wheeler said they are possibly looking at issuing those to jail staff.
"We still have dash cams on our patrol vehicles," he said. "The body cams will be used in conjunction with those."
Wheeler said body cameras will be used during contacts with the public including traffic stops, weapons calls, suicidal subjects, foot pursuits, jail transports, any adversarial situation, arrests/citations and some interviews.
As far as when body camera footage would considered an open record, Wheeler said that would be on a case-by-case basis.
Wheeler also noted Gov. Nixon signed a new law in August that would limit access to some footage from body cameras. As part of a rewrite of state criminal laws, the measure would bar public access to body camera and vehicle camera footage during ongoing investigations.
Wheeler said the department did not get any guidance on the equipment and the policies to enact their use.
"I'll be honest, there are some on the department that have reservations about these, but we also know there's going to be reservations by the public that won't like to see that blinking light in front of them," Wheeler said.