Officials balk at high cost of cams

Yearly $200,000-plus cost for body cams slows MC purchase

The Middlesex County Board of Supervisors (MCBS) appears to be hedging on the purchase of body cameras for Middlesex County deputies in the upcoming 2025-2026 fiscal year budget season.

At a budget work session, Sheriff David Bushey recently reported he will need two positions — a records manager and an assistant clerk — at a salary price tag of $108,000 to manage the cameras and Middlesex Commonwealth’s Attorney Mike Hurd said he will need another $100,000 in salary to hire an assistant commonwealth’s attorney.

At the MCBS regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, March 4, Sheriff Bushey informed the board that if the board does not move on the purchase of the body cameras by March 31 it will lose a $20,000 grant towards the purchase of the cameras.

Pinetop District Supervisor Randy Crittenden indicated the county might want to wait and purchase the body cameras at another time and that the loss of a $20,000 grant is an “insignificant cost compared to what we are going to have to pay for it.”

Supervisors Chairman Don Harris said that the Virginia State Police do not wear body cameras. “They have car (dash) cameras and the sheriff’s department might look into a cost comparison of body and car (dash) cameras,” he said.

The board voted unanimously to table the matter. A special budget work session to discuss the issue is slated for 1 p.m. on Tuesday, March 25 at the Middlesex County Historic Courthouse, 865 General Puller Highway, Saluda.