Following a summer of racial unrest and ongoing calls for more police accountability, officers with the Bend Police Department began testing various body cams Dec. 21.
“Over the last six months, the Bend Police Department established a body-worn camera working group consisting of members from the police department, City of Bend Legal Department, and the Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office,” stated a press release from Bend Police Dec. 17. “The workgroup narrowed the selection of the body-worn camera supplier down to a few providers,” with each provider offering different services and capabilities.
Over the next few months, a number of officers will wear and evaluate the various cameras to help determine the products that best fit the department’s needs, with the goal of having a body-cam system fully in place by summer 2021.
In June, following the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police, and amid ongoing Black Lives Matter demonstrations, the Bend City Council began looking at funding a body-cam program for Bend PD. Establishing a body-cam program for city police officers was part of the City’s technology strategic plan well before the summer of protests, City Manager Eric King said at a June 3 meeting—but due to “strong community desire,” city leaders opted to move the program up on the priority list.
Most police departments in major cities across the U.S. use body cams. Locally, the Redmond Police Department has had them since 2017.
This article appears in Dec 23-30, 2020.
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Prineville PD and Crook County SO have incorporated the technoloy for years now.
Bend PD was held back for years in doing so by its now retired chief Jim Porter. And the City Council (Bend) not feeling such a safeguard for All Involved was a budget priority.
Same with DCSO, a topic addressed multiple times by re-elected Sheriff Shane Nelson.
Local Media continues to fail to describe the full financial investment and technology required outside of just the appropriate camera system.
And mention how the video images protect the officers as much as the Public.
Greg: You might have missed our previous story on this topic, which discusses the costs involved in storing this much data, etc. https://www.bendsource.com/bend/bend-polic…
Thanks for reading.
I believe I read the story but did so again, thank you.
Cost of data storage mentioned in passing but no estimated cost or cost for same experienced by Redmond PD, for example, given.
Perhaps BPD or City did not have estimate at the time?
Costs also include hiring tech to service the equipment…etc etc and so on.
Again, Redmond PD as well as Crook County SO and Prineville PD have long history with the technology and available yearly cost analysis / records for comparison / examples if BPD/City could not provide.
Clearly more to it than just buying a camera…hopw to see follow-on story this subject.