RIDGEFIELD, Wash. — Inside Clark County Sheriff's Deputy Chris Fisk's department-issued SUV you will find a camera mounted on the front windshield. A second camera is secured onto Fisk's chest.
"They made it dummy-proof, or cop-proof basically, so it's kind of nice," Fisk said.
Deputy Fisk is one of four sworn members of the sheriff's office to be testing out the Axon cameras. The trial started in early April.
"It's super easy to use," Fisk said. "You just double tap it and it turns on and you don't need to worry about it. It vibrates and you can have a sound emit if you want to, so you know it's on and working."
"It's a huge step forward," Commander Todd Barsness added.
Cmdr. Barsness is overseeing the program. He said that during the trial the cameras are recording on every call to which the three deputies and one sergeant respond.
"The transparency, the ability to not only resolve problems or concerns about calls but also to document calls more thoroughly," Barsness said. "The program is a lot more expansive than putting a camera on a deputy."
Other local law enforcement agencies understand the utility of these cameras, including the Vancouver Police Department. They launched their body camera program earlier this year. Just last week, the city of Portland and its police officers union reached an agreement on the adoption of body-worn cameras, clearing the way for deployment soon.
"Body-worn cameras aren't new to law enforcement across the nation," Barsness said. "It'll be new to the Clark County Sheriff's Office. We're actually really excited."
Deputy Fisk is excited, too. In fact, he has yet to discover any negatives about the camera strapped to his body or the other mounted in his rig.
"It's super easy to work and gives a good perspective of everything," Fisk said.
The Clark County Sheriff's Office will wrap up the camera trial at the end of this month. If they decide to move forward with this manufacturer they hope to have the body-worn cameras deployed within the next few months. The hope is that staff will be wearing the cameras by the end of the year. In all likelihood, the in-vehicle cameras will come early next year due to manufacturing issues.