Deputies in Orange County will begin wearing on-body cameras starting in 2015, Sheriff Jerry Demings confirmed Wednesday.
Demings said the agency will spend $1.2 million to purchase the initial 500 body cams. The Orange County Commission would have to approve that money during a Jan. 13 meeting.
The sheriff said this is a new level of transparency that he said the public has asked and paid for.
"I've always said that the use of body cameras and in car cameras is a useful tool for law enforcement," Demings said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
The effort, according to Demings, is to promote accountability and transparency in the sheriff's office.
While the sheriff said the cameras are not in response to incidents in Ferguson, Missouri and New York, he said they are a part of the evolution of law enforcement, which will have a learning curve of when and when not to use them.
"There are certain circumstances where the use of a camera may not be appropriate. Those are things that we are looking at around the country and we are learning from the missteps of some other agencies," Demings said.
Public reaction to the announcement is mixed. Some Orange County residents support the new program but are concerned about the price tag. Meanwhile, others hope there is an independent review board to screen the video recorded at crime scenes.
The sheriff said it will be vital to have citizen input to come up with the policies that will govern camera usage. The expected roll out of the deputy body cams is early 2015.