Brooke County officials find themselves at a crossroads familiar to many communities across West Virginia — deciding how to spend money secured through settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors.

The intention behind those funds was clear: to help repair the devastation the opioid epidemic has wrought on our region and its families, its workforce, and its way of life. Yet, as discussions late last month before the Brooke County Commission reveal, the temptation to divert those treatment and recovery dollars toward law enforcement remains strong.

The Brooke County Sheriff’s Department’s wish list includes digital license plate readers, body cameras, dash cameras, and even an armored vehicle. While no one questions the dedication or safety needs of our deputies, we must remember the original purpose of the opioid settlement — treatment and recovery. It’s not clear how license plate readers and a $307,390 armored vehicle fit that bill.

The Legislature created the West Virginia First Foundation specifically to ensure those funds address addiction — not to expand the reach of surveillance or militarize local police departments.

Communities across the Mountain State have too often allowed these settlement funds to drift away from their mission. Side-by-sides, cruisers, and nifty gadgets may seem useful — and local law enforcement officials are trying their best to find even the most remote link to how these purchases can be justified through opioid recovery funds — but let’s be clear: license plate readers, side-by-sides and armored vehicles won’t curb addiction or reunite families broken by drugs.

What they do bring, however, is another cost — the quiet erosion of personal freedoms.

License plate readers and neighborhood cameras may promise safety, but they also invite constant monitoring of innocent citizens going about their daily lives. Once that door is opened, it rarely closes.

If this settlement money is to bring change, it must fund treatment beds, counseling services, prevention programs, and community recovery efforts — not another camera mounted on a pole or patrol car. Fighting addiction begins with compassion and care, not surveillance and suspicion. Brooke County commissioners were right to consider other funding sources for these requests.