BROOKHAVEN — Lincoln County could benefit from joining a camera access program, Sheriff Steve Rushing said Monday morning. 

He advised the Lincoln County Board of Supervisors why he believes making the move would be beneficial ahead of budgeting decisions for FY2024 at the end of May. 

He said the City of Brookhaven is considering using Fusus, a company based in Georgia, which provides RTC3, a Real-Time Crime Center in the Cloud. Lincoln County could go in with the city on the camera access program when they make a move to their shared E911 building. 

Rushing believes the county could benefit from the camera access program which allows access to existing video cameras in improving response times and accuracy in investigating leads. It would all be tied to the city and county joint dispatch. 

“We could tie our schools and county buildings into it,” he said. “It would allow citizens to help us. It doesn’t give us access to their systems but lets them know they can provide us footage. We could add about 200 feeds, the pricing is based on the number of feeds. I feel it would be beneficial to tie our communities together.”  

Lincoln County’s Sheriff Department has not spent much of its ARPA funds, Rushing said. His idea is to ask the board for approval of $40,000 from ARPA funds so the county can go in with the city on the Fusus program. 

No action was taken at the board meeting.