Body cameras now worn by deputies and officers at both Erie County jails

Starting last week, body cameras became standard issue for every Erie County corrections officer and jail deputy who interacts with inmates, detainees and the public.

The county now has nearly 300 body cameras in use between the Holding Center in downtown Buffalo and the Erie County Correctional Facility in Alden. Jail deputies and corrections officers are expected to attach them to their uniform before they enter the jails.

The last of the cameras were given to deputies at the Holding Center last week.

“Any corrections officer or deputy who is in a housing unit or in a post where they have interaction with an incarcerated individual, or the public, is wearing the body camera,” said Michael Phillips, superintendent of the Jail Management Division.

Road patrol deputies have been wearing the body cameras for roughly four years, but it has taken longer to distribute the cameras to jail personnel. Corrections officers at the Alden facility have been wearing them for roughly a year after agreeing to updated union contract language, Phillips said.

Democratic and Republican county legislators have long advocated for body camera use in the county’s jails, where roughly three dozen inmates have died since 2005, prompting criticisms from the State Commission of Correction. The ongoing, high-profile trial involving the 2012 death of inmate Richard Metcalf is expected to cost the county millions of dollars.

After Sheriff John Garcia took office in 2022, he expressed his support for body cameras, saying they’re useful in determining the truth and fostering transparency.

“I think the more cameras we have, the better,” he said.