By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
The Barren County Sheriff’s Office plans to use a federal grant to increase its efficiency.
Recently U.S. Congressman Brett Guthrie, who represents Barren County in Congress, announced that his office secured $470,617 for “Barren County Sheriff’s Technology Improvements.” Barren County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Adam Bow told Glasgow News 1 that this money will be used to purchase several items that will help the office either streamline services or provide useful tools to its officers.
“Our goal is to become more efficient always, whether it’s through investigations, getting stuff for the courts, or however that’s our goal — to continue to grow, move forward and be more efficient,” Bow said. “This [money] is going to allow us to do that.”
This money will allow the sheriff’s office to purchase 30 Axon body cameras that includes streaming capabilities — which would allow supervisors or dispatchers to watch live, increase officer safety, and allow for faster sharing with the court — and GPS tracking, Bow said. Thirty body cameras are enough to outfit the entire office, including all school resource officers, according to Bow.
“This will cover everybody from the sheriff down,” Bow said. “All day, every day.”
As opposed to the current cameras, these new Axon body cameras also have the ability to start recording when a weapon is drawn, Bow said.
The sheriff’s office will also use this grant to purchase its own virtual trainer from WRAP Technologies, which was hitherto only available approximately one week a year through the Kentucky Association of Counties.
“You put the headset on [and] there’s multiple scenarios in the system and based off the officers responses [the trainer sitting at a computer] can control the scenario,” Bow said. “Currently we get it through [the Kentucky Association of Counties] — they bring it and set it up — this will allow us to train on it whenever. You can do a lot of training in that that you can’t do anywhere else. ”
“It’s invaluable training that you can’t get outside of it,” he added.
Additionally, the office will also purchase Cellebrite, a technology that allows deputies to extract information from a cellular device, which currently is performed in Nashville, Bow said, and roughly four electronic speed limit signs that collect data for more targeted patrolling.
Bow told Glasgow News 1 that the office initially applied for the grant in 2023, but reapplied in the spring 2025.
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