Deputies in the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Office are now wearing body cameras.
Sheriff Dan Hartwig said on WOMT’s Be My Guest program that 53 cameras have been deployed for two months after initial training.
There are new interview room cameras at the sheriff’s office, in-squad car cameras have been installed, and deputies have been trained on new Tasers.
Hartwig says the new Tasers not only have extra cartridges, but they can reach farther than the old ones.
The next phase of the project is to implement a sensor that automatically activates a deputy’s body camera when they pull their gun.
Hartwig says the final step would be to upload all their stored videos to the cloud, calling the whole process a big change.
“(It’s) like going from a flip phone to an iPhone with the amount of technology that’s really coming along,” he noted. “It’s difficult from a leadership perspective trying to keep up with technology, but in today’s day and age, we want to make sure that our staff has the best equipment out there, and (if) they have good equipment, they’re going to be providing great service to the community.”
The body cameras and Tasers were approved in the county’s 2026 budget after a two-thirds majority of the county board overruled a veto.
