After years of discussion, Franklin County Sheriff’s deputies could all be wearing body cameras soon. The matter goes before the county commission on Tuesday.
Franklin County commissioners are expected to approve $2.5 million for a body camera program for the sheriff’s office during their meeting.
The vote comes just two weeks after the state provided $232,000 to help pay for the body cameras.
WatchGuard Video is expected to get the five-year service contract, to provide the cameras and create storage for the footage.
Commissioners committed their support for body cams shortly after a Franklin County deputy shot and killed Casey Goodson Jr. in December 2020. Goodson was shot six times as he walked into his Northland-area home.
Then-deputy Jason Meade was a part of a U.S. Marshals task force carrying out an unsuccessful search for a suspect in the area when deputies encountered Goodson, who was reportedly "driving down the street waving a gun." Meade followed Goodson and confronted him at his home.
There is no footage of the shooting, because Meade, like other sheriff's deputies, was not equipped with a body camera.
Meade faces charges of murder and reckless homicide in the case. He left the department on disability retirement in July 2021.
