ISAC Releases Assessment of Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office Grant Program to Deploy In-Car Cameras

The Idaho Statistical Analysis Center (ISAC) is pleased to announce the release of its assessment of the current Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office (TFCSO) Byrne JAG-funded program. Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office’s In-Car Cameras: Byrne JAG Subaward Assessment Report highlights a current Byrne JAG award that enabled the TFCSO to purchase and install 38 in-car camera bundles for its patrol vehicles in early 2025. The report presents preliminary data, focusing on the eight months during and after camera installation (January – August 2025) and comparing that period to the same eight-month period in 2024 to examine any shifts in patterns related to citizen complaints, traffic citations, and overtime hours spent on traffic court cases.

Key findings include:

• In the first eight months after cameras were installed (January – August 2025), 90% of citizen complaints against TFCSO deputies were ultimately dropped (compared to 75% during the same time frame in 2024).
• TFCSO averaged 10% fewer traffic citations issued per month from January – August 2025 (268 per month), compared to the same period in 2024 (298 per month).
• TFCSO spent an average of 27% fewer overtime hours on traffic court cases per month from January – August 2025 (14.0 hours per month), compared to the same period in 2024 (19.1 hours per month).

Although these findings are promising, the eight-month follow-up time is too short to draw strong conclusions about the cameras’ effectiveness and whether the project met its goals. In the report, ISAC outlines recommendations for expanding data collection on camera usage and using that expanded data set to conduct a more rigorous evaluation with a longer follow-up time.

The full report is available in the ISAC Publication Library.

The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne JAG) Program is a federal formula grant program that provides funding to states and local governments for programs in seven broad areas of the criminal justice system. TFCSO’s program is funded through a Byrne JAG sub-award administered by the Idaho State Police’s Pass-Through Grants & Research Department (the State Administering Agency for Idaho’s Byrne JAG funds) under the “Law Enforcement”, “Prosecution and Court”, and “Prevention and Education” program areas.

The Idaho Statistical Analysis Center (ISAC) is located within the Pass-Through Grants and Research Department of the Idaho State Police. The mission of ISAC is to disseminate research, data and statistics related to crime, illegal drugs, victim services, and the administration of justice in Idaho. To learn more about ISAC, or to access other data dashboards and publications, visit our website at https://isp.idaho.gov/pgr/isac/.

Posted in Grant Publications (PGR), Research Publications (PGR)