UMATILLA COUNTY — As calls for police accountability reach each corner of the country, the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office is preparing to outfit its deputies with body-worn cameras.

“I believe there’s been a lot of commentary in the press and so on about the use of the body cameras and the need for departments to have that available,” Umatilla County Commissioner Bill Elfering said at a county meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 2. “I think we have some liability outstanding if we don’t have it, and I think it significantly adds to the professionalism of our department.”

In preparation for the cameras, the Umatilla County Board of Commissioners approved the sheriff’s office to purchase additional equipment for $24,185 that will expand its server space to store footage and software to redact portions of the footage. It will be the first update to the sheriff’s office server system for police footage since it was implemented with the department’s in-car video system in 2012.

“It’s going to be essential to have a server that’s sufficient to cover both of those,” Capt. Dave Williams said at the Sept. 2 meeting.

Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan said there’s not a set date for when the body cameras will be deployed by the department this year, and it may take two waves of implementation before every deputy is outfitted with one. However, he said the goal is to deploy all of them by the end of the calendar year.

Officers in Pendleton, Hermiston and Boardman, along with deputies from the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office, are already outfitted with body cameras in Eastern Oregon. Rowan said his department’s wait on implementing them came from concerns about costs and a first priority on expanding the department’s number of patrol deputies in the county.

“It’s always something we knew we’d have to be creative with in order to bring them to our agency,” he said.

The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners also approved the sheriff’s office to purchase 20 new X2 Tasers from Axon for $36,520 that will be split without interest into payments over five years. This year’s payment was approved for $7,480 with annual costs totaling $7,260 over the next four years.

According to Williams, the purchase replaces the department’s current tasers that he described as “obsolete” because of continuously breaking down and being difficult to repair.

“By purchasing these all at once, we’ll be able to equip our entire patrol division with the new models,” Williams said.