Hardin County Sheriff's Office now using body cameras purchased through donations

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Hardin County Sheriff's deputies are now wearing brand-new body cameras, thanks to student fundraising and community donations.

The sheriff's office rolled out the cameras Monday.

The office recently 36 Motorola V300 Body-Worn Cameras. Those cameras, according to the agency, feature "high-resolution video recording, high-quality audio recording, cloud-hosted evidence management, 128 gigabytes of storage capacity, integration with vehicle video systems, automatic wireless uploads to evidence management systems, secure data encryption and more."

The cameras were financed in part by a fundraiser held earlier this year by students at Saint James Regional School in Elizabethtown. That fundraiser resulted in a $2,756 check to the sheriff's office.

The sheriff's office also received an anonymous $5,000 donation. According to the news release, the agency continues to work with WesBanco to secure a grant for additional body cameras.

"Purchasing these cameras has been a priority for the office for quite some time but budgetary constraints have made it difficult to acquire them," said Hardin County Sheriff John Ward, in a statement. "We are incredibly grateful for the community partners who have stepped up to help us fund these cameras and help us fulfill our mission of providing safer streets and a stronger community for Hardin County."

The agency said deputies are expected to begin using the body cameras on Monday, July 11. The cameras will be used by operations personnel, including patrol deputies, detectives and school resource officers.

"These cameras will provide further transparency for the community, improve deputy safety, increase evidence quality and so much more," Ward said, in a statement. "It's an excellent tool that we're proud to now have at our disposal."