A total of 108 law enforcement agencies across Ohio have been awarded grant funds to cover costs associated with body cam programs, according to Governor Mike DeWine’s office.
The grant funds are distributed through the Ohio Body-Worn Camera Grant Program which is administered by Ohio’s Office of Criminal Justice Services.
The Ohio Body-Worn Camera Grant Program was created by DeWine in 2021
This round of funding awarded nearly $4.8 million to the agencies across the state. The amount of grant requests for this round of funding totaled $10.7 million.
Of the 108 agencies awarded, 32 will use funding to create new body-worn camera programs and 76 agencies will dedicate funding toward expanding or upgrading existing technology, according to the governor’s office.
All qualifying agencies that applied for grants to establish new body cam programs received funding. The remaining funds went to existing programs to upgrade aging cameras, add storage capacity, or hire record-retention personnel.
The Perry Township Police Department in Stark County was awarded the largest amount of funding out of the 108 total recipients this round, as the department received $271,407.35.
Next year, the program is expected to award $5 million to agencies that request funding for their new or existing body cam programs.
“Body-worn cameras are important for both the protection of our law enforcement officers and members of the public,” DeWine said in a statement. “My administration is proud to support our police departments and sheriff’s offices [with] the cost of this equipment so that agencies big and small can outfit their peace officers with cameras.”
Body cams, according to a study by the National Institute of Justice, are mainly used by law enforcement to “improve officer safety, increase evidence quality, reduce civilian complaints, and reduce agency liability.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
