Thursday, October 1, 2026
Tumwater Police Department officers are now using body‑worn cameras, acting Chief Carlos Quiles announced last week.
The cameras are mounted on the torso of police officers, who have to make every reasonable effort to activate them during law enforcement activities.
In a statement, Quiles referenced a new police policy, which specifies the scenarios when the cameras must be turned on.
The policy also includes recording exemptions, uploading and retention protocols, guidelines for public disclosure and other operational protocols.
Before the announcement, Quiles met with the Tumwater City Council to go over the policy. on March 24. Questions were raised about data retention and the use of videos acquired through public disclosure requests.
Quiles explained that a video's retention period depends on its content. He noted the department uses a tagging system that cross-references Washington state records retention schedules to determine how long each video must be stored.
As an example, inadvertent recordings or videos that did not record anything substantial, would have shorter retention requirements than recordings of actual cases, only needing to be retained for 60 days. Higher-priority videos, such as those of vehicular collisions, would be stored for a year.
Quiles also spoke about how the department can’t stop people from publicly sharing videos acquired through the public disclosure process. He said the best the department can do to protect people’s privacy is to redact anything the law requires them to censor.
The police department acquired the cameras through a $932,743 contract with the company Axon, the same supplier of body-worn cameras to other police departments in Thurston County.
The deal included 48 body cameras, which will be updated and replaced every 30 months across the five-year duration of the contract.
The body-worn camera comes with real time translation for more than 50 languages. Its platform also features video redaction assistance tools, an online portal where the public may send their own home footage, and a diagnostic tool to catch hardware issues and monitor whether cameras are being activated properly.
The purchase also included 29 in-car cameras to replace the department’s old camera car system to unify both systems on one platform.
Tumwater is the last jurisdiction among Olympia, Lacey and Thurston County to implement body-worn cameras for its police. But the project was completed ahead of schedule.
“The initial timeline was like two years, and we were able to accomplish this in seven months,” Quiles said,
“This project — in seven months — became possible only because of the amount of support it received from the police union, the mayor, the police department and city council.”
7 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
PissAnt
Well yeah, the cameras protect the police more than anyone else.
Thursday, April 2 Report this
terry
I believe this will be a net benefit in curbing radical protesters and others knowing their behavior/actions will be documented and available for adjudicative purposes if necessary.
Thursday, April 2 Report this
gopav44
Should have been using these when steve barclift denied my Civil Rights at tvgc and when tpd was stalking me to and from work at L&I .... but it's a dangerous place to live and a deadly place for recreation like golfing at tvgc---
Thursday, April 2 Report this
OlyBlues
While TPD officers wearing body cams should have happened years ago, this fast tracked 7 month timeline to implementation along with several other recent decisions at TPD since Mayor Dalhoff and Chief Quiles too over have only intensified the appearance of collusion between them and the Tumwater Police Guild. The police guild worked behind the scenes to have Chief Quiles appointed and now all three are in bed together. This is why a Detective promotion was prioritized over a signed contract with Tumwater Schools for two SRO's. It is really unfortunate that Tumwater city officials have sold out their ethics and morals in favor of corruption and impropriety. It is not a good look or one that builds any public trust. Meanwhile, serious crimes at Tumwater Schools continue to flourish and the last remaining SRO TPD has not reassigned yet is forced to do it all. I have lost all faith in Tumwater Mayor Dalhoff and the Police Department.
Friday, April 3 Report this
OLDME71
Clearly the first 4 commenters have personal grudges to whine about instead of seeing the good in the police finally getting body cameras.
Friday, April 3 Report this
HotTractor
It would be interesting to see their policy on muting cameras. I think they can be useful and but in some cases, like selective muting and pausing the recording, be used to spin a narrative. Also it would be interesting to find out how much it cost and how hard it is to get access to the recordings by the public.
Saturday, April 4 Report this
KTLucas
This has been a long-time coming and I for one am relieved the day has arrived. It is such a positive step forward for the community and for the officers themselves. Thanks to Mayor Dahlhoff, City Council, and Chief Quiles for responding to the urgency.
Sunday, May 10 Report this