Columbia, SC (WLTX) - After approving money back in July, the Department of Public Safety has announced the amount of money being dispersed to individual law enforcement agencies around the state to fund body cameras.
These kinds of cameras have been the topic of discussion around the nation following a growing number of officer involved shootings.
The Sumter Police Department received the highest amount.
Police Chief Russell Roark says the department did not have body cameras in the past and relied on dash cam footage.
"It has helped prove a case or exonerated an officer," says Chief Roark, but he also says that dash cam alone is not enough.
Now $304,405 will go towards buying body cameras in Sumter.
"We have 121 officers and we're going to buy enough cameras to outfit everybody," says Chief Roark.
However, a majority of those costs will go towards data collection and storage.
"We tested a camera with an officer that was actually connected to his in car video and found out that in 90 days he's recording a terabyte of data," says Chief Roark. "That's a lot of data."
The Public Safety Coordinating Council, which is made up of members of law enforcement, received request from 168 agencies, totaling $12.8 million.
Of those requests, the council approved 164 and $5.8 million in funding.
Approved funding was based on the agency's size, the number of officers expected to use the body cameras and storage.
The Sumter department was working with dash cameras only and received 82 percent of what they requested.
The Town of Lexington was given 44 percent of their requested amount, that's $32,607 dollars.
"We requested to outfit all 34 of our uniformed officers in the department, plus pay for our system that we already put into place," says Lt. Matt Timmerman.
The Lexington Deparment previously had 12 body cameras, that required 10 terabytes of storage and now, they know they'll need more.
"Roughly we're looking at about $7,100 every year to store the data and an additional $5,100 it cost for maintenance and upkeep of that data," says Lt. Timmerman.
No word yet on when they will receive the funding, but Chief Roark says he hopes this will help strengthen their relationship with the community.
"It's one camera, it records in one direction, but I think it's going to help us continue on the relationship side of our citizens."
Here is a look at the total funding for law enforcement agencies in the Midlands:
Batesburg-Leesville Police Department - $13,463.26
Chapin Police Department - $6,700.00
Columbia Metropolitan Airport Department of Public Safety - $11,030.00
Elgin Police Department - $4,600.00
Forest Acres Police Department - $34,400.00
Gaston Police Department - $3,000.00
Holly Hill Police Department - $4,450.00
Irmo Police Department - $30,573.75
Lee County Sheriff's Office - $4,957.00
Lexington County Sheriff's Department - $67,500.00
Lexington Police Department - $32,607.00
Manning Police Department - $18,000.00
Midland Technical College Campus Police - $13,950.00
Newberry County Sheriff's Office - $118,000.00
Newberry Police Department - $48,000.00
Orangeburg Department of Public Safety - $78,348.00
Pelion Police Department - $15,689.00
Prosperity Police Department - $19,422.86
Richland County Sheriff's Office - $132,000.00
Ridgeway Police Department - $10,600.00
SC Department of Health and Environmental Control - $135,105.00
SC Department of Public Safety - $240,900.00
SC Dept. of Mental Health - $85,560.00
SC State Ports Authority Police Department - $33,595.00
Sumter County Sheriff's Department - $73,059.90
Sumter Police Department - $304,450.00
USC Division of Law Enforcement - $33,300.00