HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW)- Horry County Council spent nearly $900,000 on 325 cameras, to be distributed among Horry County Police, Horry County Sheriff’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Unit.
180 of those cameras went to Horry County police who recently underwent training and officers now wear them during shifts.
Police say the new cameras will better assist the department in reviewing arrests, officer and suspect interaction, evidence, prisoner/detainee transportation and service calls.
Officers may deactivate cameras to protect a witness, undercover cop or confidential informant.
According to a training guide provided to News13, officers will record all traffic stops, emergency responses, pursuits, officer involved accidents/incidents and interviews of victims or suspects.
Each day officers are required to upload the footage to docking stations and that’s something that can be very time consuming.
“Depending on the number of videos sure and there may be major incidents where we will be in need of a video immediately and we might have an officer and go and immediately download that a precinct,” Lt. Raul Denis.
The goal is to keep as many officers on the streets patrolling, so officers do have another option to upload recorded videos.
“We give them a personal docking station that they can set up at home and basically connect it through their internet so that when it’s charging its also uploading videos and they can do that when they get home at the end of the shift,” Denis said.
All of the video, audio recordings and data are stored on a secure server. Lt. Denis says the videos will also be used to monitor officer activity and look for training opportunities.
