City Council in Portland, Oregon, approves $2.6M for police body cameras

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The City Council in Portland, Oregon, has approved $2.6 million for police body cameras. The Oregonian reported Wednesday that all of the city’s roughly 800 uniformed officers who interact with the public will have body-worn cameras by the summer, after training and further negotiations with the police union. However, only around 300 patrol officers will be required to wear them routinely on their shifts. Until this year, Portland was among the 50 largest police departments in the country that had yet to deploy the devices. The City Council vote capped years of at times contentious debate over the policy.