The Why Behind the New Body Camera and Taser SRO Policies

Lieutenant Morrinson stands at the front of the Commons, supervising and greeting the students entering the school.

Jillian Studebaker, Staff writer for The Powderhorn

As students at Watauga High School are welcomed back to a new semester, they are met with more changes than new classes and routines. One change includes Watauga County Commissioners budgeting for tasers and body cameras in the School Resource Officers’ (SRO) uniforms. 

“Anything that enhances our ability to use non-lethal force to protect our students through body cameras as well as tasers is not a bad thing,” said Lt. Morrison, Watauga High School SRO.

Although the equipment could provide a safer way to prevent violence on school grounds, one case for the cameras specifically is community expectation. 

“The Watauga County Sheriff’s Office requested additional body cameras to equip all uniformed deputies, which includes civil deputies and school resource officers,” said Brian Bumgarner, Deputy of the Sheriff's Office. “Citizens within our communities and visitors alike expect law enforcement officers to be equipped with body camera technology for transparency and accountability.”

Throughout the state, most of the schools already have SROs equipped with tasers and body cameras. However, these are typically schools in larger cities in the state. Watauga High is one of the few schools that doesn’t have the extra devices that other schools have been equipped with for several years. 

“If [and incident] is on video, then it’s not, ‘they did this or they said that’,” said Morrinson. “We can easily do that with the video and see exactly what was said.”

While Watauga hasn’t had many of the threats that larger schools in the state have had, the threat of school violence is still a possibility. Already this year Watauga High School received an unsubstantiated threat communicated through the Say Something app that prevented many students from feeling comfortable coming to school. 

“We live in a world where cameras are more prevalent than ever,” said Todd Castle, Vice Chairman of the Watauga County Commissioners. The commissioners made the decision to include the equipment in the county budget.  “Cameras act in two ways: to solve crimes and prevent crimes. They protect both the officer and the subject they interact with. I feel like this is just another measure for the safety of our students.”

Critics of the camera and taser additions might question the necessity of equipping SROs with body cameras and tasers while education budgets are in flux. Likewise, there is concern about the cost of adding these new items to the SROs' uniforms since most officers needed the updates. 

“The Watauga County Sheriff's Office prior to the budget, only had enough body cameras to equip patrol deputies and two school resource officers,” said Bumgarner.

While the recent threat assessment at Watauga High School revealed no credible concern, adding the body cameras and tasers adds an extra sense of protection for the students at Watauga High School and will help to prevent any further threatening situations.

“As the old saying goes, 'cameras don’t lie,” said Castle. “I applaud the Watauga County Sheriff's Office for the forward thinking and dedication to the safety of our students and staff.”