An Eau Claire-based nonprofit organization is donating nearly $1 million to local law- enforcement agencies to buy body-worn cameras and other video equipment. PESI Inc., a nonprofit continuing-education organization, pledged to donate $949,622 to the Eau Claire Police Department and the Eau Claire County Sheriff’s Department to purchase the body cameras, to replace squad vehicle camera systems and interview room camera systems, and to pay for cloud-based storage of the video data for five years.

“This is an investment in our local community that will build trust through transparency and provide additional safety and efficiencies for our law enforcement officers,” Michael Olson, deputy director of PESI, said in a media release. PESI provides continuing education in the form of conferences, seminars, videos, and books to professionals in health care and other fields.

Eau Claire County Sheriff Ron Cramer and Eau Claire Police Chief Matt Rokus thanked PESI for the donation, saying the technology will help their agencies better serve the community. “The addition of body-worn cameras and improvements to our other video recording systems are important tools to help strengthen trust and legitimacy,” Rokus said. “This technology will further promote transparency (and) accountability and offer opportunities to advance policing through training. I am grateful for PESI’s generous donation and support.” The Eau Claire City Council voted Sept. 14 to accept the donation, and both agencies are expected to be using the new technology by January.