GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — The Guilford County Sheriff's Office is getting 160 new body cameras for its detention officers.
County commissioners agreed to buy the cameras to replace old ones.
Sheriff Danny Rogers and a detention officer told WFMY News 2 how the new technology will help improve transparency inside the jails.
For more than a year and a half, Sheriff Danny Rogers says the department has needed new body cameras, partly because detention officers have to share.
"Those that were on first shift would actually hold onto some that were from the third shift but they got a chance to be charged up so it's a lot," said Rogers.
He said the current cameras are old and have maintenance issues.
"If the camera systems are not working, then you have a problem. The maintenance on the camera system has faltered, have failed," said Rogers.
"The old cameras, you had to switch them out sometimes there was some lag with some of it as far as getting the videos and stuff like that as far as downloading the new ones are a little bit easier," said Sgt. Matrex Burns.
Burns is a detention officer within the county. He says he and several other supervisors are testing out several of the new cameras before the rest come in.
"It's actually pretty waterproof. I had one actually go into the water, go into a toilet one time and it's still recording," said Burns.
County commissioners recently approved the purchase of 160 new cameras. The county is spending around 100,000 dollars to get them.
The Sheriff's Office hopes the modernized cameras will improve transparency in the jails and how detention officers and inmates treat each other.
"So we can find out if there's a disorder going on within the detention center. Whether it was a resident or a detention officer and those cameras help us with that," said Burns.
The new cameras are expected to arrive in three to five weeks.