I’m old enough to remember when Augusta County Sheriff Donald Smith cast local residents who advocated for his office to fund body cams for county sheriff’s deputies as “paid people pushing an agenda.”
That was just three years ago, actually.
Today, we get a press release from the sheriff’s office touting the “full implementation” of a project to get body-worn cameras on deputies.
According to the release, deputies started wearing the body cams on their uniforms on Monday.
“This milestone marks the culmination of a multi-year effort aimed at enhancing transparency, accountability, and operational efficiency within the sheriff’s office,” Smith said in the release, going on to add, “The project’s success reflects the strong collaboration between county departments and leadership, as well as the continued support from our community.”
Geez, you’d think it had been his idea from the get-go.
ICYMI
I’m just one of the many who got yelled at by various county leaders over the years for advocating for body cams, with the issue first coming to a head in 2021 after two officer-involved shootings involving Augusta County sheriff’s deputies in a period of a couple of weeks.
It didn’t help the cause that the issue got caught up in the back-and-forth between the county and Nexus Services, whose former principals, Michael Donovan and Richard Moore, have waged a years-long crusade aimed at taking down Smith and Commonwealth’s Attorney Tim Martin, for the reason that Donovan and Moore are constantly facing civil and criminal complaints related to the operation of the immigrant-bonding business.
The Nexus crowd taking up the body-cam issue to use as a cudgel against the local establishment led to years of delays in the county sheriff’s office doing the right thing.
But, hey, here we are, four years since folks started pressing county leaders on the need, three years since the sheriff said the only people who wanted body cams were “paid people” – if that was true, I’m owed some money by somebody.
Smith, in the news release today, noted that dashboard cams will be installed in sheriff’s office vehicles over “the next several weeks as the final phase of the project is near completion.”
“This is a proud day for our office and for Augusta County,” Smith said. “The Body Worn Camera Project represents a leap forward in accountability and public service. I want to thank every department and individual who helped bring this vision to life.”
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Chris Graham
