Clay County approves Cradlepoint devices to speed squad-car video uploads

The Clay County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved the sheriff’s request to buy Cradlepoint mobile routers for squad cars so deputies can upload video from the field instead of driving back to the law-enforcement center. Sheriff Emdinck told the board the devices are a Wi-Fi cellular solution that will let deputies upload dash- and body-camera footage “from anywhere within Clay County,” eliminating delays when videos must be delivered to the county attorney, city attorneys or courts. County staff said the hardware option is a five‑year purchase with an estimated per‑unit cost of about $2,231 over five years; about $200 per year would be for cloud service and roughly $1,200 per unit for equipment. The sheriff’s office also said removing SIM cards from vehicles could reduce a monthly SIM-card cost now running about $1,000 to $1,100 and produce approximately $12,000 in annual savings on that line item. The sheriff and IT staff said the devices would reduce time deputies spend returning to the law‑enforcement center or a storage facility to offload video and would improve the timeliness of evidence delivery to prosecutors. “When the deputy stops their video in their car, it’ll automatically upload into the cloud,” Sheriff Emdinck said during his presentation, explaining the plan would reduce queues of unanalyzed video. County staff proposed paying for the purchase out of the 2025 budget using savings from positions that were unfilled or partially unfilled this year. Staff produced worksheets showing roughly $75,000 in net 2025 savings attributable to four positions that were unfilled or partially filled, a sum staff said exceeds the five‑year Cradlepoint cost. Commissioners asked about contract options; the sheriff said a five‑year prepay was the most economical proposal through the vendor (Code 4), although a three‑year option was available at higher recurring cost. Rory from IT said he had spoken with other counties and found stronger cellular connectivity for the Cradlepoint devices than the vehicles’ current internal SIM setups. A motion to approve “the request as presented” was made by Commissioner Mosgrove and seconded by Commissioner Bier; the board voted to approve the purchase on the consent/motion vote. The sheriff’s office and IT staff said they expect improved uptime for video transfers, fewer processing delays for prosecutors and courts, and more patrol time for deputies once the devices are deployed. The county will record the purchase and track the budget line items used to pay for the equipment.