Oktibbeha County supervisors could soon find that the digital world is an expensive one.
Officials say issues remain with the planned digitization of records and how to store differing types of data. Tackling large-scale projects, like the preservation of tax records damaged by numerous basement floods at the old courthouse, would require additional workers and a phased approach due to the immensity of the project, Chancery Clerk Monica Banks said.
Even when officials know how they want to preserve data, its storage itself remains an issue.
For example, the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department is pumping the brakes on a new round of body camera purchases until deputies determine how to store the videos in the cheapest and most effective way.
Lt. Brett Watson told supervisors Monday his department wishes to upgrade its body cameras and purchase in-car recording devices, but there’s a snag: Cameras on about 25 deputies and inside patrol vehicles can generate a large amount of data that needs to be stored, and there’s no industry standard for the amount of time law enforcement agencies hold onto the videos.
“The amount we project we’re going to be bringing in on a daily basis will be big,” he said.
Watson asked supervisors to defer a decision on the purchase until next year as the department studies a storage contract with C Spire. He didn’t disclose a possible cost for storage, but Sheriff Steve Gladney said it could run upward of $2,000 per month.
“There’s no sense in us trying to find grant money now if we can’t (store the videos). Some agencies store them for 90 days, but some only keep them around for 30 days,” Gladney said. “Can you imagine storing 30 officers’ videos every day for 365 days? I don’t see how some of these smaller departments will ever be able to tackle this. You’re talking about a lot of money.”
Gladney says the department needs new body cameras after the devices it currently utilizes experience numerous issues, including battery life problems.
“They’re just not that good,” he said. “I’ve talked to some sheriffs who bought the expensive ones, but they still have problems with them at times. All of a sudden when something happens and the camera malfunctions, everyone’s all ‘Yeah, yeah.’ Sometimes you’re danged if you do and danged if you don’t, but we’re at a point (in law enforcement) where body cameras are here to stay.”
As for digitization efforts in chancery court, Banks told supervisors those efforts are more for preservation than actual public use. Many files are already stored digitally in Hattiesburg, she said, but an on-location system would still be beneficial to lawyers researching transactions and tax records.
The data storage itself isn’t expected to take up a lot of space, she said.
“We’re not talking about imaging it to put it on the system, we’re talking about imaging to preserve it. All the land tax (records), you can’t just get rid of those. Because we’ve had so many floods in the basement, (documents are) tattered and raggedy; the books are old and moldy,” she said. “I do want us to keep in mind there might be a distinction between everyday services we provide as an IT network and the preservation of the old, historic stuff. The IT stuff is great … because we are steadily accumulating more and more data. This archival stuff, that’s a whole ‘nother monster, and we have a monster down there.”
Banks said she’s asked professionals to come in and analyze chancery court’s future needs in terms of digitization and storage, but District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard suggested the incoming board of supervisors authorize a larger study of the county’s entire IT network and possible data storage issues.
“We need to see if we can get a system developed or get on one that every department in the county can operate with. We have so many fragmented systems,” he said in reference to different agencies using different types of servers and data-entry systems. “We’re at the stage where we need to get an expert in.”
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
