County Getting More for Less

Looks like the sheriff’s department squad cars will be getting new in-vehicle laptops to go along with a previous approved bodycams for deputies and car-cams for the squad cars.  The good news is that thanks to recently awarded grant money, the cost has gone down from 318 thousand dollars for just the cameras to 210,000 dollars for all the cameras and the laptops.  At Wednesday’s Kankakee County Finance Committee meeting, County Sheriff Mike Downey said the new laptops are necessary because of a change at the federal level on how departments report crimes. The new system requires 64 bit laptops, the county’s current laptops are 32 bit.   The matter still needs the approval of the full county board.