While other police departments around the country are using body cameras there's no plan to start such a program in Yakima anytime in the future says Yakima Police Chief Dominic Rizzi. He says body cameras are expensive and he tells KIT News..."We have in car cameras. Our officers are extremely professional and I don't see the community demanding that we wear body cameras."
Rizzi says despite a test of the cameras in Yakima in 2016 he doesn't feel a need for the city to spend the money, more than $900,000 needed to purchase equipment and support systems. Rizzi says before cameras are purchased he'd like to hire more officers.
In 2016 the state legislature helped police agencies with a new law signed by the governor. The police body camera law sets rules on what body-camera footage is presumed to be private under the public records act, sets up a task force to examine best practices for their use and it encourages police agencies that plan to use the cameras to adopt policies related to their use.
The law will also limit who can request body camera footage, requiring the requester to know details about the incident like case number or names of those involved.

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