Santa Fe College is one of 33 agencies, and one of only three community colleges nationwide, awarded a grant by the Department of Justice, for the development of a program for the use of body-cams. Santa Fe College intends to match 1/2 of their approximately $28,000 1-year funding, thus bringing their total to almost $50,000. These funds will be used to assist Santa Fe College’s police department in work on developing a pilot police program for the use of body-cams.
The Santa Fe College project will entail working over the next several months researching body camera technology, storage, prices, use, vendors, and policies and procedures. After the vetting process, body cameras will be deployed on Santa Fe College Police Department officers over the next year. SF will be working with the State Attorney’s office, who wrote the letter of support for this grant written by the SF Office of Advancement, on the complex policies and procedures for this project. Area law enforcement will be assisting in the project with their insight as well.
Santa Fe College Police Chief, Ed Book, stated, “We are very honored that Santa Fe College and the Santa Fe Police Department were looked at by the Federal Government to be a leader in implementing a body camera program. Law enforcement in our region works very hard to ensure an excellent transparent relationship with the SF College community. This pilot program will just enhance that and be another component of comprehensive safety and security at Santa Fe.”