JSO awarded Department of Justice grant worth nearly $1 million to purchase body cameras

Jacksonville, FL — It's a major boost for the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office's plans to get body-worn cameras for their officers.

The Department of Justice is awarding seven 'extra-large agencies' in the United States a one-time grant to buy the body cameras for police next year, with Jacksonville being one of them.

Under the grant, JSO will receive $997,956.00 from the DOJ.

It comes as welcome news to Sheriff Mike Williams, who released the following statement, "To be recognized by the federal government with this award, the largest of any of those in this category at this time, is a testament to the diligent work we are doing in our technical pilot; policy development; and plans for officer training, when we select the best device for our needs."

As part of the long-term plan to get body cams, JSO has three technical pilots planned, where volunteer officers would wear the cameras from a specific vendor for a trial period. A different vendor's cameras would then be given to these volunteer officers for another technical trial. JSO is set to begin the second testing period, next month.

The sheriff's office says it hopes to wrap up all technical tests by late spring 2018, where a bidding process would then begin.

JSO says the DOJ grant money would be applied to the first round of camera purchases, with the cameras being added in incrementally to all of their officers in late 2018.