Mayor to propose spending more than $3 million to rehire 25 retired Portland police officers, buy body-worn cameras
Mayor Ted Wheeler is expected to seek about $400,000 next month to hire back 25 recent police retirees to fill some vacancies and more than $2 million to buy body-worn cameras.
The proposals will go before the City Council for a vote in late November as part of the fall budget adjustment process.
The city budget office has estimated council members have an extra $62 million to spend from a surplus to the city’s general fund, though current city rules say half must be set aside for capital projects.
The U.S. Justice Department directed the city to equip officers with body cameras and put a civilian in charge of police training to get back into compliance with a 2014 settlement agreement calling for policing changes to address excessive force complaints. Wheeler’s proposal also includes hiring the civilian trainer but he hasn’t publicly said how much that would cost.