VANCOUVER, Wash. — With the subject top of mind in recent weeks, the Vancouver Police Department announced Friday that it will begin rolling out body-worn cameras to its officers at the beginning of next week.
Rollout of body cams will be phased, the agency said. It starts Monday, Feb. 20 with patrol officers. Non-patrol staff will be next to receive cameras, and eventually all sworn VPD members will have them. The rollout is expected to finish by March 9.
The next phase, Vancouver police said, will be the installation of front-facing and rear passenger vehicle cameras in patrol vehicles. That's expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2023 — the result of supply chain delays, VPD said.
“This is a very important milestone our personnel have been looking forward to for some time and one we know the community has also been anticipating”, said Vancouver Police Chief Jeff Mori. “The increased transparency, trust, and accountability this program will bring to our community is invaluable and we appreciate everyone that supported and worked on this project to make it happen."
Mori thanked Washington's U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell and former Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, who helped Vancouver secure a $1.5 million Justice Department grant for the equipment.
The beginning of 2023 has been rife with news about police body cams. The death of Tyre Nichols after being beaten by Memphis police officers — catalogued by the officers' body cams — brought the matter to prominence once more. Though the cameras didn't prevent the kind of behavior that led to Nichols' death, it provided valuable evidence that will no doubt be used in prosecution.
As of this week, the Salem Police Department has rolled out its own body cam program. The Story spoke with SPD Chief Trevor Womack on Thursday about the value that they provide.
In Portland, the issue of body cams has hit an impasse between the city and the police union, with new details about each side's final offers released Friday. The sticking point has been a matter of when officers are allowed to review their body cam footage before filing a report. The Portland Police Association wants officers to be able to review that footage every time, while the city prefers to limit review in use of force incidents — disallowing it in the case of deadly force.
