Boone County Board approves purchase of 60 body cams, could be in use by July 1st

BOONE COUNTY, Ill. (WTVO) — The Boone County Board approved the purchase of 60 body cameras for the county’s sheriff’s department on May 16th.

“I think in today’s law enforcement, the body camera has basically become a tool,” said Boone County Sheriff’s Office Sheriff Scott Yunk. “It’s a piece of equipment that will become a daily tool for us. It’s part of our uniform now.”

The approval comes in response to a mandate that all officers in the state must get the devices. Yunk said this gear will upgrade safety for everyone.

“Gives our officers and the public a lot of transparency. It helps us out there for safety for each deputy. So it brings a lot of evidence collection,” said Yunk. “So there’s a lot of that side of it. That’ll be a benefit, you know, for us. So, yeah, there’s many positives that the body cameras will bring to the Boone County Sheriff’s Department.”

“Just in compliance with the law at this point. That’s what we’re trying to do,” said Boone County Board Chairman Rodney Riley. “It’s the right thing to do. These have been around for a while now. We’re not behind the horse a little bit here in Boone County. But, you know, we’ve got the funds now. We’re ready to move forward with the program.”

After 11 options, the approved proposal is with CDS office technology, costing a little over $136,000. Yunk said there were a lot of different ways to research the best option.

Going to other agencies and seeing how their products work was at the top of his priorities.

“I’ll give a lot of credit to our command staff at the sheriff’s department. They did a lot of research along with our I.T. division, with the possible companies that we looked at, different companies,” said Yunk. “They sat down with the salesmen and looked at the product, weighed the different different options of what would best fit the Boone County Sheriff’s Department and the size of our department.”

With approval tonight, Boone County Sheriff’s officers could be wearing body cams starting July 1st.

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