LIVE: Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office to Install Body Cameras for Deputies

WATCH LIVE:

Palm Beach County Sheriff Rick Bradshaw will hold a press conference Thursday as the agency prepares to deploy body cameras to deputies.

Bradshaw is scheduled to speak at an additional sheriff’s office near West Palm Beach at 10:30.

Earlier this month, the sheriff told WPTV that Palm Beach County deputies would begin wearing Axon body cameras by the end of February.

“It was a long process,” Bradshaw said. “We’re into this, it’s been going on for 2 1/2 to 3 years.”

WATCH: Palm Beach County MPs will soon be equipped with body cameras

Palm Beach County MPs will soon be equipped with body cameras

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is one of the latest and also the largest law enforcement agency in the county to equip law enforcement officers with body cameras.

Fifteen of the 21 law enforcement agencies in Palm Beach County have body cameras, according to the latest report from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Describing the cameras as “the best in the world,” Bradshaw said the devices would have live feed capability, allowing sheriff’s office executives to view footage in real time and adjust tactics as needed.

“I’m a big believer in trying to stop things before they happen,” Bradshaw said. “I don’t want to see something after the fact. If I have a chance to change that and get it right while it’s happening, that’s a huge piece of the puzzle.”

All uniformed personnel will wear body cameras, Bradshaw said, which wardens can watch at any time during the day through the sheriff’s office’s Fusion Center.

The sheriff said it would take several months to install video recorders and body cameras for all deputies.

Each MP will undergo an eight-hour training session before donning body cameras, Bradshaw said. He said the training would primarily consist of how and when to turn the camera on and off.

Last September, Palm Beach County commissioners approved a sheriff’s office budget that allocated more than $20 million for body cameras and the technology needed to run them.