Treutlen Sheriff’s Office Receives Funds for In-Car and Body Cameras

The Treutlen County Sheriff’s Office has received $249,000 for the purchase of 25 in-car and body cameras, as well as the construction of a new interrogation room.

The funds were delivered by U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff to the department as part of the senator’s fiscal year 2026 congressionally directed spending requests. Senator Ossoff collaborated with Republican and Democrat lawmakers to create “bipartisan government funding legislation” which passed into law on January 23.

“Body cameras provide the transparency and accountability we require from our public safety officials in Georgia,” Ossoff said in a press release. “That’s why I brought Republicans and Democrats together to strengthen law enforcement transparency in Treutlen County.”

According to Treutlen County Sheriff Thomas Corbin, the funds will primarily be used to purchase 25 new in-car cameras: 19 for the sheriff’s office and six for the Soperton Police Department, which both work together closely.

The in-car cameras will each come with an accompanying body camera, and both cameras will be synced to a sheriff or police car’s blue warning lights. When the lights are activated, the cameras will both automatically begin recording.

Two cameras active will allow officers to better review incidents, with the multiple angles offering better coverage and more information on how an incident transpired. 

“Just with the body camera, we were losing some of the angles and stuff, because it would only point in the direction the deputy was facing,” said Corbin. “So now, with the in-car cameras, we can pick up the whole thing.”

The Treutlen County Sheriff’s Office already utilizes body cameras. Sheriff Corbin maintains a strict policy requiring deputies to properly activate their cameras while on-duty.

“I actually have a policy,” said Corbin. “You will turn your body camera on.”

According to Corbin, while there have been situations in which an officer momentarily forgot to activate a body camera, the department has not seen issues with officers deliberately turning off body cameras.

The office also had in-car cameras in place in the past, but rising costs prevented them from reintegrating the technology into their vehicles.

“At one time, we had in-car cameras in all the vehicles, and used to, they were affordable,” said Corbin. “Small little cameras, but the cost of things has gotten so high, and thanks to Senator Ossoff, we can get [in-car] cameras back in the cars.”

The funds will also pay for the construction of a new interrogation room within the Treutlen County Sheriff’s Office. According to Corbin, the room will feature new recording technologies which can be activated with one button press.

“All you have to do is, when you go in, is push the button, and it records the interview,” said Corbin. “You read your Mirdanda, whatever the guy said, and we got all that.”

The interrogation room will also be made available to the Soperton Police Department for use.