Larson Housing area to get security cameras

EPHRATA - Residents in the Larson Housing area may soon have more eyes watching their activities. Grant County Sheriff Tom Jones met with the county's information technology department, county commissioners and a private security firm to discuss how to bring security cameras to the area.

They also discussed adding to the 10 body cameras the sheriff's department currently uses.

The conversation on Thursday did not include many specifics, but all in the room agreed that more cameras mean more security.

Robert Soelberg, of Huntleigh Technology, told commissioners his company could install vandalism-proof cameras in the Larson area and monitor the cameras 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

He said the Las Vegas-based company already has cameras in Grant County, with 11 cameras monitoring three Grant PUD properties.

Soelberg said his company would own the cameras and the county would pay a monthly fee for monitoring and servicing them.

Commissioner Carolann Swartz, whose district includes the Larson area, said those cameras would have been helpful to deter gang-related shootings that resulted in the murder of 16-year-old Brandon Mende earlier this year.

The group also discussed putting four cameras on 25-foot poles to monitor The Gorge Amphitheatre during concerts.

Chief Deputy Ken Jones said he wanted more body cameras for sheriff's deputies.

He said the deputies who use the body cameras love them because they can ease a tense situation by giving the public assurance that a third party, the person reviewing the video, would know exactly what happens.

Jones said the 10 body cameras that deputies currently use have a "kill switch," meaning the deputy wearing the camera could turn them off.

Soelberg said the new cameras that his company offers would eliminate the kill switch so no one could turn the camera off, preventing deputies who don't want their supervisors to see what their doing from being able to turn off the camera.

"They turn on when the deputy is on duty and automatically turn off at the end of the shift," Soelberg said.

Jones explained people want more transparency with law enforcement contacts. "The citizens are expecting the fish bowl to get clearer everyday," Jones added.

Gary Baker, the county's information technology director, said before the cameras could be installed the county would need to create "a highway" for the information to get back to the Las Vegas monitoring station.

When asked by commissioner Cindy Carter how much that would cost, he said he would talk to her later about the price tag.

"That doesn't sound good," Carter said.