By Christopher Collins
Times Record News
WICHITA COUNTY, Texas — The jail normally uses five surveillance systems, but one of the systems stopped functioning properly late last week, said Derek Meador, chief deputy for the Wichita County Sheriff’s Department. The Commissioners Court moved to allow the Sheriff’s Office to use $68,500 to purchase a new system at this week’s meeting.
Meador wasn’t surprised when one of the systems, which includes cameras and monitoring equipment, went on the fritz.
“These are old systems,” he said.
With one system down, the jail workers have lost 20 percent of their surveillance capacity. This could present a possible danger, Meador said.
“Cameras are very important in t he jail for the safety of staf f, inmates and the facility itself,” he said. “You need to see what’s going on in that cell.”
Meador said jail employees sometimes have a hard time seeing everything that’s going on in the facility.
“The way it’s constructed, it doesn’t lend itself to good visibility,” he said. Meador, for safety reasons, declined to comment on how many cameras are used at the jail. He also declined to comment as to which parts of the jail are now unprotected by cameras due to the system shutdown. But he did say patrols have been increased in the parts of the jail where cameras don’t work.
Now that officials have received the go-ahead to use the funds, parts need to be ordered, delivered and installed.
“There’s no time frame,” Meador said.
Some of the cameras are mounted on walls and ceilings, he said. Some are in color, and some are black and white. All are digital.
Meador said at least one jail employee watches the cameras at all times.
There have been instances, he said, where footage from cameras has helped the sheriff’s office build a case against an offender.
“We’ve witnessed fights going on,” Meador said. “It’s good for evidentiary things like that.”
The Sheriff’s Office also plans to implement a similar system in the jail’s annex, though no time frame is currently available, he said.
Copyright 2012 Wichita Falls Times Record News
All Rights Reserved