MOUNDSVILLE – A picture is worth a thousand words, as the saying goes, but Moundsville Police Chief Tom Mitchell believes the value of video footage might be immeasurable – both to the public and the officers sworn to protect them.

This week, Moundsville officers began wearing body cameras on patrol for the first time, joining the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department in keeping their patrols under another level of scrutiny.

Through a $25,000 grant from Chevron, funded through the Marshall County Family Resource Network, 17 body cameras were purchased for the department – one for each officer on the force. Moundsville is in the process of hiring its final officer this weekend.

Officers first began carrying the equipment Wednesday following a training session.

“It will be a valuable tool for us,” Mitchell said. “It’s one of those things – no one wants to be followed around 24 hours a day with a camera, but it’s a good training tool. We can see everything that goes on. There’s a lot of stuff that goes with this. … We’ve issued policy on them, and they’ll be a great tool for us, so people will see how they act when we deal with them.”

The cameras are expected to be a useful tool both for the officers and for the public, who know their encounters are to be recorded. Mitchell, a former officer with the Wheeling Police Department, believes in the value of surveillance when interacting with the public, both for officer and public accountability.

“We’ve had occurrences where, if a picture’s worth a thousand words, what’s a 15-second video clip?” Mitchell said.

“When I was in Wheeling, we had an incident where some people were going to sue, and we had dashboard camera video of it, which showed exactly what the officer said happened. It’s not perfect, but the cameras don’t lie.”

The cameras, Mitchell said, also will remind officers to remain reasonable when dealing with the public. The cameras function when activated by officers, who are required to begin recording whenever dispatched or when interacting with the public.

“It’s better transparency. It makes sense that the general public, and we, are going to be on our best behavior because they know they’re on tape,” said Lt. Steve Kosek.

The Marshall County FRN and Chevron had previously arranged for the $30,000 grant for the Sheriff’s Office deputies to receive cameras in a similar program in 2014, which was implemented the following year.

Chevron representative Lee Ann Wainwright said their company is constantly looking for opportunities to help emergency and law enforcement officers in Marshall County, and would be willing to assist other departments outfit their officers in a similar manner.

“These cameras were a need identified both by the sheriff’s office and Moundsville. They reached out to us for funding, which allowed us to contribute to the safety and well-being of the county,” Wainwright said.