Getting body camera footage from the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department will now cost $150. The fee was approved as part of an ordinance by the county council Monday.
It’s designed to help the department recoup some of the costs of releasing the footage, according to Sheriff Jeff Richwine. “The cameras and the program was almost $80,000,” he explained. “She’s got to watch the video to see what she has to redact, and then would probably have to look at it again to make sure, and I think even three times because the problem’s if we let something go that we shouldn’t have, then we’re responsible.”
Along with the fee, a new video request form was also approved as part of the council’s motion. “The person that’s asking for the video has to go down through the form, and then it’s easy for the employee in the Sheriff’s Office to look at it and say, ‘Okay, they’ve checked all these off. That’s somebody that gets this video,'” Richwine explained.
Council members’ only concern was that the fee should be higher, to cover the entire cost of the work that goes into releasing the videos. But Richwine said the $150 fee was the maximum allowed by state statute.
