Oklahoma Department Of Corrections Training To Implement Body-Worn Cameras

On Tuesday morning, leaders from Oklahoma prisons received training on how to use body-worn cameras.

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections is working to implement the technology to increase security and transparency.

In less than a month, every corrections officer inside an Oklahoma prison will be wearing a bodycam. “For many years, they've been used in the law enforcement environment and they've become pretty commonplace. Not so much in corrections,” Jason Sparks, Director of Operations for the ODOC said. “We’re one of the early states in adopting this technology.”

The department wants to add a layer of transparency when it comes to incidents inside Oklahoma's prisons. “One of the things we, hope to see in using this technology is the increased safety for the inmates and the staff,” Sparks said.

The new axon body cameras got a test run at a maximum and minimum security facility. “At those two facilities, we saw a 40% reduction in reportable incidents,” he said.

The cameras allow officers to capture incidents in real-time and even log important pieces of video as evidence.

But before the cameras can roll out to all 22 ODOC prisons, officers have to learn the ins and outs of the new technology.

“The overall functionality of the camera. How to mount it on, the uniform or the vest. How they download it, how they assign it to what officer, so on and so forth,” Sparks said. That's what select wardens, deputy wardens, and security chiefs from all over the state learned Tuesday.

They’ll use this knowledge to train corrections officers at their respective prisons.

“We hope that will first off improve security at the facility level as well as give some relief to the officers and make their jobs a little bit easier,” Sparks said.

News 9 will be following this story and will have another exclusive look at the launch of the ODOC body cameras on October 1.