Putnam Approves New Cameras For Sheriff’s Department

The shooting of a Cookeville-based Highway Patrol Officer more than a week ago led Putnam County Commissioners to make a change to the county’s budget approved Monday night.

Commissioner Vinnie Faccinto said he spoke with Sheriff Eddie Farris after the shooting and learned that there are gaps in the county’s specialized camera monitoring. Farris said these cameras, called license plate readers, can identify types of vehicles and plates using a database connected to other departments across the state and country.

“It can be something as worse as the trooper being shot the other night, or it could be something as simple as a stolen vehicle,” Farris said. “But they are very helpful and it’s a spontaneous reaction. So it protects Putnam County, it protects us, it protects our citizens.”

Farris said he would seek more grant funding to pay for ten additional cameras in the future and would budget for them if they did not receive the grant. He said he was not asking for money at the Monday meeting, but the county approved a motion to increase his department’s budget by $50,000 to pay for all ten cameras.

“We’re never going to put them everywhere I’d like to have them, OK?” Farris said. “We can’t afford that. But we do have a lot of places that we certainly definitely need some.”

Farris said he did not know the life expectancy of the cameras, but they should be significantly cheaper to repair than the initial cost.

“The technology has gotten better and they have caught on much more, as towns like us and counties like us need this, they’re getting more and more plentiful throughout the nation,” Farris said.

Farris said their current cameras are funded by a state grant and are therefore regulated as to where they can be placed. They will have more freedom with the placement of these new cameras.