Carter County approves panic buttons and common-area cameras, asks vendor for quote

The Carter County Board of Commissioners voted to pursue a quote and proceed with a cloud-based security system that would add panic buttons to offices and cameras in common areas and at the front of the courthouse.

The decision followed a presentation and demonstration by Dory Smith of Mercado Security Systems, who described a system that stores footage in the cloud and provides audit logs when footage is pulled for an incident. "My opinion would be that at a bare minimum, panic buttons really like to see some video, some cameras in the common areas, and out the front of the courthouse," Smith said, arguing that video helps with liability and incident reconstruction.

Commissioners, staff and vendors spent much of the discussion on where cameras should and should not be installed. Several elected officials and staff expressed concern about cameras inside individual offices and courtroom sensitivity. Commissioner (speaker 3) moved that the county obtain a quote from Verkada to provide panic buttons to requested departments and cameras for common areas and the courthouse exterior; the motion was seconded and approved on a voice vote with no public comment.

Staff and the vendor emphasized access controls. The vendor said footage access would go through the county's DIS/IT provider in Billings and that any request for footage would generate an audit trail. Smith described a panic-button workflow in which an override could provide law enforcement or dispatch immediate access to live feeds. "There would also be audit logs on that," the vendor said, noting the system records who requested footage and when.

Commissioners asked staff to return with a finalized list of locations, clarify which rooms (sheriff's office, justice of the peace, clerk of district court) would be excluded, and consult the district judge about a requested courtroom camera. The motion as passed covers common areas, the front outdoor camera and panic buttons for offices; commissioners noted the plan could be amended later to add or remove locations and that a privacy-and-access policy would be written by county HR and routed through the DIS provider for formal controls.

Next steps: staff will collect final location lists, confirm courtroom needs with the district judge, ask the vendor to finalize a written quote, and circulate recommended policy language on access controls and retention for commissioners to approve.