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Florence County S.C. Sheriff’s Office JAG FY2006 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florence County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) provides law enforcement services to over 125,000 residents who reside and/or work in an 804 square mile area. The Sheriff’s Office is a dynamic, progressive and professional organization dedicated to the promotion of a high quality of life for the county’s diverse population. The Sheriff’s Office is comprised of 117 certified class 1 officers, 82 detention officers and 29 support personnel. The tasks of uniformed deputies and investigators has become more complex and litigious, demanding documentation of even the smallest of incidents to insure accurate portrayal of incidents, injuries, crime scenes, suspicious persons and places. The burden of proof has become even more strenuous leading occasionally to long drawn out trials. As technology continues to improve it is important that the Sheriff’s department evolves accordingly. “A picture is worth a thousand words,” and video cameras in patrol vehicles would provide credible, unbiased records of incidents between law enforcement and the public. Cameras would aid in inhibiting any instances of racial profiling and thus take another step towards building and securing trust between law enforcement and the public. The original motivation to install video cameras in vehicles was to provide evidence against drunk drivers, reckless motorists, and to document suspects’ actions while interacting with officers. Through the use of in car cameras many other benefits were derived. The impact of video camera use has increased the conviction rate by providing easier identification of suspects; has provided more thorough documentation of crimes; has aided in the reduction of citizen complaints against officers, and has ultimately increased safety for the officer. The FCSO has 4 uniformed patrol shifts comprising 9 officers each. Currently, only 7 vehicles out of the 36 in the squad are equipped with video cameras. By adding 10 additional cameras, the ability to capture evidence on film would almost double. Video cameras serve to document the facts reminding both suspects and law enforcement that we are all accountable for our actions.
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