The San Diego Sheriff's Department may soon be wearing body cameras.
On Tuesday, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a proposal to outfit deputies with uniform cameras.
In a letter from the Sheriff's Department to the Board of Supervisors posted on the BOS' website prior to the meeting, the Sheriff's Department said the "geographical and social environments " they cover are "increasingly complex and challenging."
"The interactions between members of the public and deputies responding to and investigating calls for assistance are often an important part of the record of the investigation," according to the letter.
With body cameras on their deputies, the letter said, the department would take a technological leap forward and the cameras would also "help promote a perceived legitimacy and a sense of procedural justice that communities expect from their law enforcement agencies."
In that letter, the sheriff's department said there would be no fiscal impact associated with the request because the SDSO would come back to them with a recommendation for funding before receiving the cameras.
The SDSO will start taking bids from 18 interested parties that would help outfit the deputies, according the letter.
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The department is following the lead of other local agencies, including the San Diego and Chula Vista police departments, who have or plan to put cameras on their officers.
