Although the value of body-worn cameras by police officers is positively priceless, the cost to law enforcement agencies for these crucial crime-fighting tools too often proves prohibitively pricey.

That’s why a program created by Gov. Mike DeWine in 2021 to offer grant awards totaling $5 million yearly for these essential devices merits commendation and continuation.

Just last week, the Ohio Body-Worn Camera Grant Program dished out about $4.8 million to law enforcement agencies throughout the state, including seven grants totaling about $240,000 in the Mahoning Valley.

Recipients in Mahoning County were the Springfield Township Police Department ($64,121), Poland Township Police Department ($47,203), Milton Township Police Department ($13,231) and Coitsville Township Police Department ($5,816).

Awardees in Trumbull County were the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office ($68,158), Champion Police Department ($25,083) and the Hubbard City Police Department ($11,742).

Those funds will come in handy considering the steep expenses of maintaining a viable body-worn cameras program.

How steep? A cost analysis of police body-worn cameras in 2021 by the Energetics Technology Center estimated the average annual contract cost of body cameras, including support and personnel costs, at $2,445 for one camera per officer. Multiply that by the hundreds of officers in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties who stand to benefit from them, and one easily can see why the expense might be burdensome for increasingly cash-strapped county, municipal and township budgets.

In fact, high costs rise as the No. 1 reason hands-down why policing agencies, particularly those in relatively small communities across Ohio, have been hesitant to implement this increasingly necessary technology. They simply cannot afford them, they say.

But given the growing body of knowledge on body-worn cameras’ effectiveness in enhancing criminal justice, we believe police agencies in communities large and small cannot afford to operate effectively without them.

Among the documented benefits:

● Body cameras improve police accountability and lower reports of police misconduct.

● They are an effective police reform tool and have strong support from the public.

● Body cameras reduce the number of complaints filed and substantially lessen the amount of costly time it takes to investigate and resolve complaints.

From our perspective as the Fourth Estate of government, body-worn cameras also prove valuable in strengthening accountability and transparency to the public on police news. Public release of such videos allows detailed and accurate explanations of crime scenes as they unfold. To that end, we’re pleased that one recommended use of the Ohio body camera grant program is to help finance speedy responses to Freedom of Information requests for such footage from the news media.

With so much going for them, local law enforcement agencies needing to implement or update body cameras for their men and women in blue should not hesitate to contact the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services to apply for the next round of $5 million in body camera grants. Some of the individual awards range as high as $240,000.

Short of that, public bodies that control the purse strings of police departments in the Valley should exhaust all avenues to find the needed resources to institute or expand body-worn cameras programs. Though no panacea for reducing crime and improving police-community relations, body cameras go a very long way toward efficient and transparent policing.

As such, they truly exemplify your tax dollars at work.