Franklin County to host town hall on new deputy body cameras

The Franklin County Board of Commissioners and Sheriff Dallas Baldwin will host a town hall meeting Thursday to demonstrate the sheriff office’s new body cameras to the public.

The free, public event is set for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the county commissioners’ hearing room in the lobby of the Judicial Services Building, 369 High St., Columbus. Free parking will be available in the Fulton Street garage.

The event also will be broadcast live on the commissioners’ Facebook page and on Zoom. For more information or to register to participate via Zoom, visit Conversation.franklincountyohio.gov.

The event will include a demonstration of the new Motorola Watchguard body cameras and presentations by the sheriff and prosecutor on the policy that will govern body camera use and video storage, as well as a public questionand-answer session.

People may submit questions in advance by emailing to: Questions@ Franklincountyohio.gov.

Another session will be held later this summer for those who are unable to attend.

Franklin County Sheriff ’s deputies have not previously had body cameras.

In February,commissioners unanimously approved a $2.5 million contract with Watchguard Video Inc. for cameras and video storage for each of the county’s 565 sheriff’s deputies — more than 14 months after the fatal shooting of Casey Goodson Jr. by former deputy Jason Meade.

The event comes less than a month after the city of Columbus held a similar event, demonstrating its new Axon body cameras.

Bethany Bruner and Cole Behrens of The Columbus Dispatch contributed to this report. nshuda@dispatch.com @Nathanielshuda