Latah County Sheriff's office shows off new camera system

MOSCOW — The Latah County Sheriff’s Office is using new technology to make gathering evidence and recording body camera footage easier for its deputies.

The county received a five-year, $450,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to buy video recording equipment from a digital systems company called Utility.

The equipment includes new body camera devices, vehicle camera devices, a license plate reader and a digital evidence collection system that the public can use.

The body camera attaches to a smartphone the deputy keeps in a front vest pocket. The deputy can activate it by tapping it or pressing a button. It can also activate automatically during a number of emergency scenarios.

For example, it turns on automatically if it senses the deputy has fallen to the ground or is involved in a foot chase. It turns on if the vehicle is involved in a crash, or when the deputy switches on red and blue lights and opens the car door.

That means deputies like Riley Harkins do not have to stop in the middle of an emergency response to activate body cameras.

“I don’t think about that when I’m in a crisis situation,” Harkins said.

The technology from Utility also includes a digital evidence collection system that should make it easier for police to gather evidence from the public. If citizens want to share video surveillance footage with law enforcement, they can upload it to the Sheriff’s Office through a website or QR code that a deputy gives them.

Capt. Shane Anderson said Utility approached the Sheriff’s Office with the technology shortly after the investigation into the Nov. 13, 2022, quadruple murders in Moscow. Police involved in that investigation gathered dozens of videos from local businesses and residences.

Whatever footage is recorded by the deputies’ body cameras or vehicle cameras is uploaded immediately into the Sheriff’s Office records.

With their old system, deputies would have to spend time manually uploading the footage themselves. Anderson said the new technology will save them valuable time so they can spend more of it protecting the public.

“It’s going to allow our deputies to be out of the office more,” he said.

Harkins said the license plate reader will make them more effective at their jobs. While the deputy is on patrol, cameras mounted to the front of their vehicle will record license plates of passing vehicles. License plates can be flagged so that the deputy can be alerted when passing by a stolen vehicle or a suspect’s vehicle.

John Joseph, business manager for Utility, said police can use the technology to send each other photos of suspects. He also said the videos are automatically classified based on what type of crime the deputy responded to, and stores it for the length of time that is required by Idaho law.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.