Board approves courthouse security cameras; staff and clerks ask for compatibility and privacy limits

Harrison County supervisors voted to accept a quote from AllSafe Technologies to install a 16-channel security camera system for county offices in the courthouse at a cost of $19,654.94.

During discussion county staff and clerks raised operational and privacy questions. Staff member Crystal told the board the vendor offered a lower-priced option that matched the county’s existing, limited system and a higher-priced platform that would provide better image fidelity. She said the recommended system is currently in use at the Seaway location and allows ‘‘fish-eye’’ viewing that can zoom into multiple stations — similar to casino surveillance — enabling staff to review cash-handling incidents at higher resolution.

Clerks asked that the courthouse installation integrate with a broader courthouse camera platform currently being priced by another staff member so the county would be on a single system. They also emphasized that some camera views must omit personally sensitive data: one clerk said license-plate numbers (car tags) and other protected information should not be visible to users of the system. Crystal said the courthouse system will be configured so the front-lobby cameras cannot read tags and that the camera used in the clerk’s area will be oriented to show entrances and exits and (on a separate backside camera) currency handling where needed.

The board asked about video retention and storage. Staff said the proposed system doubles current capacity to 20 terabytes (compared with 10 terabytes now) and will support longer cloud retention — staff estimated six to eight months of stored footage in the recommended configuration, considerably longer than the existing 30‑day window.

A motion to accept the AllSafe Technologies quote passed with an aye vote recorded from the board’s members present.