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This officer is wearing a body camera on his uniform, attached near a button on his shirt. It records audio and video images. This photo was provided by manufacturer VieVu, one of the makers of body cams that Portland police have field tested.

(VieVu)

Days after a federal judge reiterated his wish for Portland police to wear body cameras, the mayor wants the bureau to buy the new equipment and have most uniformed officers wearing the small cameras in less than a year.

"We're on his side on this one,'' said Dana Haynes, spokesman for Portland Mayor Charlie Hales, referring to U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon.

Portland would join a growing number of police agencies across the nation that have decided to outfit officers with the cameras in an effort to promote greater accountability and transparency. The devices attach to an officer's uniform and record audio and video.

On Thursday, New York City's police commissioner, William Bratton, announced that the NYPD – the country's largest police force – will begin a pilot program to have 60 officers in high-crime precincts wear the cameras, calling it "the next wave.''

Portland police recently concluded a "successful first piloting'' of the cameras given mostly to traffic officers, Haynes said, and are continuing to examine the camera technology and associated costs.

But the mayor, who serves as police commissioner, is pushing to expand the program, Haynes said.

Hales was out of town on a business trip to Japan, but released this statement by e-mail: "We've long been proponents of body cameras but the technology wasn't good enough and they were expensive. The Bureau piloted a variation of clip-on cameras for the Traffic Division this summer to see if they live up to expectations. We have heard that the officers who used them like them.''

The City Council had approved about $800,000 for additional in-car video cameras, but police are considering using the money instead to supply body cameras to about 600 uniformed officers -- including patrol, school police, gang enforcement and traffic officers, said Sgt. Pete Simpson, bureau spokesman.

"That money is there, and that's one of the options we're looking at right now,'' Simpson said.

Judge Simon restated his support for the cameras, but stopped short of ordering them in his five-page ruling last Friday approving the city's settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice that calls for reforms to Portland police policies, training and oversight. The agreement follows federal findings that police here had a pattern of using excessive force against people with mental illnesses.

"The Court notes that as the technology in this area continues to improve and become more dependable and affordable, more city police departments in the United States are choosing to employ this technology in ways that protect both law enforcement officers and the public they serve,'' Simon wrote.

Simon earlier this year asked the parties in the case whether requiring the body cameras "would promote the objectives'' of the agreement, and if so, why they weren't included.

Justice Department officials and federal prosecutors responded that even though the agreement didn't address the cameras, it wouldn't prohibit Portland police from using them.

"It is our understanding that the City is willing to engage in use of body cameras to the extent that the technology is dependable and that its use is affordable,'' the prosecutors wrote. "If the City utilizes body cameras, the City must carefully govern their use to protect the rights of subjects and bystanders, e.g. providing Miranda warnings when appropriate and respecting reasonable expectations of privacy.''

Earlier this year, the federal Office of Justice Programs Diagnostic Center issued a report on the wearable cameras that found they help resolve citizen complaints against police more quickly and can be useful in police training, but that more research is needed to determine whether their presence alone results in improved encounters between police and civilians.

The report urged agencies to proceed cautiously and stressed the importance of training and policies governing their use, such as when to record and when not to, whether to announce that the encounter is being recorded, when supervisors can review video and video storage and management.

Portland police began testing the body cameras more than a year ago. Traffic officers and Central Precinct bike officers have used several different ones made by WatchGuard Video, Vievu and most recently, Taser.

"Early reviews from officers is that they like them,'' Simpson said.

Officers have found that agitated people approached by police wearing the cameras tend to calm down when they learn they're being recorded, Simpson said.

"The reviews have been pretty positive and encouraging,'' Simpson said. The bureau is still in the fact-finding stage, he said.

Dave Fidanque, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, said the ACLU has had a change of heart in recent years and now lends it support to the cameras as long as there are strict guidelines about their use and video and audio retention. The policies must protect people's privacy rights, particularly when police are in a home and on private property, he said.

"From the public's point of view, it will provide a record that is going to be better than just an eyewitness account of the officer versus the person who was stopped,'' he said. "We think it'll be good for everyone concerned.''

If police in Oregon start widely adopting the technology, the state's eavesdropping law should change, he said. The law requires anyone recording a conversation to inform all parties that the conversation is being recorded. An amendment was approved, providing exceptions for police dash cameras as long as an officer notifies people that they're being recorded. A similar amendment would be needed, he said, to allow audio recording by body cameras.

-- Maxine Bernstein