Olympia Police now have body cams

Olympia police officers are now equipped with body-worn cameras, OPD chief Rich Allen announced at the city council meeting held Tuesday, November 1.

"Our body-worn camera program is up and running. We started wearing them on Monday, October 31. We will start seeing them in the field," Allen told the council members.

Allen had promised that Olympia police would have body camera equipment on them by October. It was previously slated for August.

In May, the city council authorized the OPD to acquire and use body-worn cameras and in-car video systems in compliance with Washington State's RCW 10.109.2021, which strongly encourages the city to adopt a resolution allowing the outfit of police officers with body cameras.

"A house bill passed during the police reform legislation that mandated that we audio and video record certain interrogations and interviews. Body cameras are certainly the easiest way to do that. Body cameras also fulfill our mission of transparency and building public trust," the police chief added.

The council also approved a contract with Axon Enterprise, Inc. to provide the equipment and services, including software, hardware, licensing, live-streaming software, and installation. The contract costs $736,172.

Allen said Axon and TCOMM (Thurston 911 Communications), the dispatch center, just completed the auto-tagging program. They have been working on that since July.

"Basically, the camera recognizes what call for service the officer is on and automatically links it up and goes with our file," Allen explained. 

On Monday, November 21, between 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., the OPD will hold an open house at the council chamber.

"We will have officers here demonstrating the equipment. We will have IT folks here and people that are public disclosure specialists. All your questions can be answered, hopefully," Allen said.

The police chief reminded the council members that OPD is yet to implement in late 2023 the in-car video system.

Privacy issues

According to Allen, there were many privacy concerns from the community members when the city held a survey.

He said the state legislature had addressed the privacy concerns and the public disclosure requirements. "The state has come a long way in catching up with this technology. They're giving us the authority to redact many things that weren't available in the past," Allen said.

In a Town Hall meeting held in June, Allan discussed some of the examples of the things they can redact from a video if they get a public disclosure request:

• Area of the medical facility, counseling center, therapeutic office, and anything that would violate Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy requirements or anything that identifies a patient inside of one of these areas.
• Interior of a residence where a person has reasonable expectation of privacy.
• They can blur out the identifying things inside the residence on the video
• Intimate images, as well as depiction of minors or deceased persons

Allen claimed they have also addressed other people's concerns about ensuring police officers' accountability in their policy. "They have to wear it. They have to use it appropriately. They can't turn it off when they're not supposed to. And that's all been addressed in our policy and the fees associated with the public disclosure requests."