The Cherokee Nation steps up again to help the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office.
Tribal Council member Buel Anglen's district includes parts of Tulsa County, and he presented the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Foundation with $8,000 Friday.
"I'm here today to donate this money for body cams, which, we all know, that protects us, it protects the officers, it protects citizens — everybody," Anglen said.
Sheriff Vic Regalado said budget constraints have held back the goal of putting a body camera on every patrol deputy.
"I didn't want to get this system as a knee-jerk response to social pressure to get them, and then implement it and then not be able to afford them moving forward and have to drop that program like many law enforcement agencies are having to do across the country," Regalado said. "I want to put this system in and be able to have it for years to come, long after I'm gone."
Manufacturer Axon donated cameras for deputies to test out, but the sheriff's office will have to go through county bidding procedures when the trial is over. While the equipment could be free if TCSO ultimately goes with Axon, they would have to pay data storage costs of $958 a year per camera.
Anglen has presented donations from the Cherokee Nation in the past, including $5,000 last year to replace bulletproof vests. More donations are likely.
"We are also looking at, in the future, doing a paved road into the training facility at 66th Street North, which is really needed bad," Anglen said.
The Tulsa County Sheriff's Foundation is a 501(c)(3) set up this year to accept private funding to benefit the sheriff's office. Its primary goal was raising enough money to equip every patrol deputy with a body camera, which could happen sometime next year.
