Feb. 28—All sworn Frederick County Sheriff's Office deputies will be equipped with body-worn cameras by April 1, the sheriff's office announced Monday night.

In 2021, the Maryland legislature passed a package of police-related bills, one of which required that all Maryland police agencies equip their officers with body-worn cameras by July 1, 2025.

Some agencies outside of Frederick County, including Maryland State Police, which has a barrack in Frederick, are required to get body cameras by July 1, 2023.

The sheriff's office ran a 12-month trial period in 2022, in which patrol deputies tested two brands of cameras — Axon and Motorola — for six months each to see which cameras would be best.

The sheriff's office decided on Axon, Sgt, Richard Balsley, the sheriff's office's body camera coordinator, said in a news release. The sheriff's office began rolling out the body-worn cameras on Monday.

"Deputies have been looking forward to the implementation of the body cameras, as the value of the cameras became increasingly apparent during the course of the pilot program," Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said in the release.

The News-Post asked the sheriff's office several additional questions about body-worn cameras Tuesday afternoon, including why it chose Axon, the cost of the program, and storage of video. Sheriff's office spokesman Todd Wivell wrote in an email that the sheriff's office would not have all of the answers by the end of the day on Tuesday.

More than 180 sworn deputies and officers will get the body cameras over the next two months, the release said. That includes personnel in the criminal investigations section, the Frederick County Courthouse, community deputies, the traffic unit, the K-9 unit, the Pro-Active Criminal Enforcement (PACE) unit, the protective orders unit and school resource officers.

The Governor's Office of Crime Prevention, Youth, and Victim Services paid for $405,000 of the cost, the release said. It was not clear on Tuesday what the total cost was.

In January 2022, when the sheriff's office first started trying body-worn cameras, Lt. Jeff Null said the initial startup costs, including hardware and software, were estimated to be at least $1.5 million.

Jenkins said in the news release that the body-worn camera program is expensive.

"The public should realize that body-worn camera programs, now mandated for all of law enforcement agencies in Maryland, will be a tremendously expensive program going forward in terms of the cameras, data storage, and additional personnel required to support the program," Jenkins said in the release.

The sheriff's office posted answers to some common questions about police body cameras on its website at www.frederickcosheriff.com/body-worncameras.

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