City prepares to put body cameras on every police officer
Expect to see body cameras on Hillsboro police officers later this year. Officers will be testing different brands of cameras this summer and fall before the entire police force is outfitted in early 2018, according to Hillsboro Chief of Police Lee Dobrowolski.
At a lively public forum at Brookwood Library last night, residents asked Dobrowolski questions about the privacy, technical, and cost implications of the program, for which the city has a $217,500 federal grant. The department needs to choose a vendor to purchase the cameras from, while also working out an array of policy questions. Which is why they’re seeking feedback from community members, both at the public forums and with this survey.
“One of the things we’re working on is determining what we will and will not record,” said Dobrowolski.
Any recordings made cannot be deleted under Oregon public records law, meaning the city will have to outline when cameras should and should not be used, and police officers will have to comply by those rules.
“Muscle memory, repetition, is important,” said Dobrowolski. “It’s going to take some time for officers to train their brain.”
Standard police interactions, such as when a car is pulled over, would likely be recorded, and anything related to sexual assault victims would probably not be. Plenty of questions remain around situations involving juveniles.
The department is still working out when officers will turn the cameras on, but there will always need to be a specific reason for doing so.
“Officers will be prohibited for using the camera for anything other than a legitimate law enforcement purpose,” said Dobrowolski. “They can’t record just because they want to.”
Officers will also required to inform people that they are recording, according to Dobrowolski, except for in situations where that’s not possible. Depending on the model of camera chosen, there may be a constant buffer, between 30 seconds and two minutes, which would be automatically added to recordings to provide context. The buffer would only be saved when an officer actively begins recording.
Asked if the Federal grant is at risk because of Hillsboro’s recent Sanctuary City Vote, Dobrowolski said they’re going ahead either way.
“The guidance I’ve been given is regardless of what happens at the federal level I am to proceed,” adding that the federal government is a “crapshoot right now.”
Dobrowolski, while clearly knowledgable on the subject, wasn’t afraid to deflect with humor when a question about the cameras was beyond his grasp.
“I didn’t go to the police academy to know how to run a computer,” said Dobrowolski. “But I’m not hard to find on the Internet. If you send me an email, I will get that question to someone who has the information.”
Dobrowolski’s email address is Lee.Dobrowolski@hillsboro-oregon.gov, in case you don’t feel like finding him on the Internet, or you can fill out this city survey if you just want to speak your mind on the issue.