Ryan McMahon proposes $600,000 for deputy body cams; Sheriff asked for more

After a Syracuse.com story reported Onondaga County Sheriff Office had no body cameras and no plans for them, Sheriff Gene Conway called a news conference to say he would welcome the cameras if the county provides the money. Here, Conway holds up the syracuse.com article to make his point on Friday, April 23, 2021.

After a Syracuse.com story reported Onondaga County Sheriff Office had no body cameras and no plans for them, Sheriff Gene Conway called a news conference to say he would welcome the cameras if the county provides the money. Here, Conway holds up the syracuse.com article to make his point on Friday, April 23, 2021.Katrina Tulloch

Syracuse, N.Y. – Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon today said he will ask legislators to approve spending $606,000 this year to outfit sheriff’s road deputies with body cameras, the first step in a 5-year program estimated to cost about $3 million.

McMahon’s spending request, which is expected to pass the legislature on Tuesday, is 36% less than the $954,700 a year Sheriff Gene Conway proposed in a last-minute letter that McMahon received today.

Conway proposed to put cameras not just on road deputies but on corrections officers, jail deputies and civil employees of the sheriff’s office. McMahon said he would ask county legislators to study the need for cameras in those units but saw no reason to delay getting cameras for the road patrol deputies.

“We will move forward with the tested and true body camera program with our police officers,’' McMahon said at a news conference. “That will get approved by the legislature tomorrow. And then we will begin an RFP process. … The sheriff can move forward with that program quickly.’'

McMahon has estimated body cameras could be available by early summer for the sheriff’s office, one of the few largest sheriff’s departments without them in Upstate New York.

The spending resolution from McMahon caps 10 tumultuous days that began with a story April 23 by Syracuse.com that documented the sheriff’s office as an outlier in the trend toward outfitting police with body cameras. Conway responded to the article hours later, saying he would get cameras if he had the money, and McMahon promptly promised to get the money.

Ten of the 15 police agencies within Onondaga County already have cameras.

The spending proposal lawmakers will vote on Tuesday totals $606,650, which will be taken from the county’s fund balance, or rainy-day fund. The program will cost the same amount for five years, totaling about $3 million over that period, McMahon said.

For that, the county will outfit 224 deputies from the road patrol with cameras. The county also will place cameras on 67 police vehicles. The cost also includes “two or three’' new staff positions that will be needed to monitor and run the camera program, McMahon said.

Conway submitted a letter to McMahon today asking for much more. His proposal would have cost $954,700 during the first year.

The sheriff requested a total of 419 body cameras, including 136 for the jail and correction divisions. He also requested cameras for a total of 95 vehicles.

McMahon said he would ask the legislature’s public safety committee to review the need for extra cameras requested by Conway. He noted that the jails are outfitted with many building cameras but said he had not ruled out any portion of the sheriff’s request. McMahon said it was important to move forward now with body cameras for the police division.

Body cameras benefit the public and police, experts say.

Complaints about officer misconduct steadily decline when police wear cameras, a study released in November by the Urban Institute found. Knowing a camera is present, experts said, tends to improve the behavior of everyone involved.

Body cameras give investigators and the public a chance to review police shootings and weigh whether an officer’s decision to use force was justified

The article April 23 by Syracuse.com reported that:

  • At least ten of Onondaga County’s 15 law enforcement agencies have body cameras. That includes the Syracuse Police Department.
  • The sheriffs’ offices in three of Upstate New York’s four most populous counties have body cameras.
  • The New York State Police started equipping troopers in the Capital Region with body cameras in April. The state plans to roll out the cameras to the rest of the force this summer and fall.
  • Nearly half of the nation’s more than 15,000 law enforcement agencies had body cameras as of 2016, according to a report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the most recent estimate available.

  • Conway had not asked for funding for cameras since before McMahon took office in 2018.
  • Conway estimated the cost of body cameras would be as much as $2 million a year. Based on Syracuse police department’s experience, the article estimated equipping the sheriff’s department 225 deputies could cost about $429,000 a year.

MORE ON BODY CAMS

Onondaga County sheriff’s office could have body cameras by end of May, county executive says

In a dizzying day, county exec forces sheriff’s hand on body cams: We’ll pay for them

After Syracuse.com article, Sheriff Conway says he welcomes body cameras if county provides money

Sheriff Conway refuses body cameras while more U.S. police forces embrace them

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