Yesterday we brought you the story
of why the Portland Police Bureau
does not have body cameras. In fact,
the Rose City is the largest city in America,
huge who has a municipal police force
that does not use the technology.
The process to get the body cams on to PPB
officers began way back in the fall of 2014,
and yet here we are still no body cams.
The Axon company was awarded a $2.6
million contract to cover a pilot
program and full implementation.
The hope is that the system
is up and running.
By the end of this year.
But there's another snag
looming in the process.
Whether or not officers can watch their body
Cam footage before they write their reports,
the city and the Justice Department do
not want them to see the video first.
The officers in the Union,
they do want to see it.
The police union argues that viewing
the video first will make their
reports more accurate.
Opponents argue that's not fair.
It's going to let the officers craft
their story around what the video shows.
By the way,
many police agencies in Oregon do
allow officers to see the video first.
Including the Oregon State Police,
Gresham, Forest Grove,
Beaverton and Eugene.
But we asked for your opinion
on the body Cam drama here in
Portland and whenever we ask,
you deliver.
I live in Lake Oswego.
I couldn't agree more.
All police should wear body
cams to protect both us as
well as police officers.
Body cams protect the police officers
that do a great job and expose
those who don't do a good job. I
was really surprised to hear that
the Portland Police Bureau has not
been using cameras yet because they
were talking about that so long ago.
I think they're it's way, way,
way past time for them to be wearing them.
That's just my opinion,
but I feel very strongly about it.
Thank you
and thank you. I gave you my
opinion on this yesterday as well.
I think body cameras are good.
I believe the city and the Justice
Department should drop their
argument and let the cops see the
video before writing the report.
And let's get on with the business
of recording police actions.
Many of you agreed with me and he
said I believe that human memory
is faulty and often untrustworthy.
Police officers should have the
ability to review video from body
cameras before writing their reports.
That's the purpose of the cameras.
The record events objectively
rather than relying on possibly
biased reporting by individuals.
And there's this from Judy.
I agree totally with you on the body cameras.
I think that the city of Portland sometimes
wanders around like a sheep out in a
snowstorm trying to figure out what to do.
Why don't they have a vote by the people,
or maybe just a vote by
the Police Department?
They know what they're doing.
The whole thing has just gotten out of hand,
and all these years that we've
spent waiting for this to happen,
it's horrible.
They need to get their act together.
But several of you disagreed with.
Me saying no, no, no, no,
no way should officers be able to watch
the video before writing their reports.
We heard from Bruce, who said,
I'm a former deputy District Attorney
and a former criminal defense attorney.
Over 35 years, I've seen many
criminal cases come down to one thing.
Credibility, the believability
of a police officer over a
citizen charged with the crime.
Body cameras are something that
every department should have
and should be used regularly.
But he goes on to say police officers should
not be allowed to craft their reports.
Around what is seen or heard
on their body cameras.
They've been writing reports
from memory until recently,
and it should remain that way.
Scott agrees.
Officers are trained to remember stuff.
Certainly an encounter that either
results in someone being arrested
or worse is a memorable event.
It is ludicrous that they would
need a refresher from a video.
There might be arguments for
making the videos available,
but according officers,
the time to manage their stories.
That just does a disservice to the justice.
A few of you even came up with
a compromise to this issue that,
at least to me on its face,
seems like maybe it would make
both sides happy.
I think the police officers should
write their reports without having
the ability to look at the video,
and then after the the report is
completed they could look at the
video and add an addendum to their
report if it disagrees with what
they wrote in their previous report.
But they would resubmit both
the original report and the
addendum to the higher authorities
Amanda had. Similar thought the answer
to the body Cam issue is I think that
one police should write their reports,
then two get to see the video,
then three have the opportunity to file
an amendment to their report to explain
anything in the video they feel is not
properly addressed in their original report.
Doesn't seem like such a bad idea to me.
What do you think?
Did any of your fellow citizens
opinions there change your mind?
Let us know.
We love hearing from you.
Send an e-mail to the story at
kgw.com or call and leave a voicemail,
503-226-5090. And in the meantime,
keep sending your questions and comments
right here to the story of khw.com. We're
going to wrap things up right after this.