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Sheriff's office asks commissioners to replace failed archiver drive, add external jail‑view station
Summary
Sheriff's staff reported a failed archiver drive in the jail camera system and recommended buying two drives and adding a BVMS client and service agreement updates so the sheriff can view jail cameras from his office for safety and incident response.
Brian Williams of the sheriff's office told the Benton County Commission that one of two archiver drives for the jail's camera and access control system has failed, leaving the system vulnerable to total data loss if the second drive fails.
Williams recommended purchasing two drives — a replacement and a spare — to restore redundancy; he estimated the cost for the drives in the "550 range." He also asked the commission to approve adding a BVMS client station, bringing the BVMS software up to a current version and catching the system up under a Bosch service maintenance agreement so external viewing (from the sheriff's office) is possible. Williams said the sheriff currently has no external access to view the jail; all viewing stations are inside the secured jail perimeter.
Williams read a vendor note that the system is no longer supported at its current BVMS version and that costs are skewed because the sheriff's office let the service agreement lapse. He estimated roughly $1,000 of his own labor to connect the sheriff's office to the camera system; the vendor quote contains additional licensing, monitor, and installation labor charges he did not specify in full at the meeting.
Commissioners asked whether the sheriff would view cameras from his office (Williams confirmed), why the prior vendor or administration had not completed the work, and whether the upgrade could be staged. The sheriff's office and a commissioner recounted that cameras or viewing stations promised during a prior system change were not installed or activated.
No final procurement decision was recorded in the meeting transcript; staff presented cost notes and recommended the commission consider the purchase to address the immediate failure risk and restore external monitoring capability.
Next steps noted at the meeting: obtain formal vendor quotes, approve funding at a later meeting or by resolution, and restore the service agreement to reduce future catch‑up costs.
