PORTLAND, Maine — Six city councilors Wednesday presented the vague sketch of a plan they said has been in the works for more than six months to test out police body cameras by equipping a handful of officers with the devices before the whole department adopts them in the 2019 fiscal year.
Council members said the city has about $26,000 left over from a federal grant it will use to purchase eight body cameras in the coming months.
The councilors did not provide further details on that plan, which police Chief Michael Sauschuck did not mention specifically when asked about a body camera pilot program the day before. Sauschuck did say he favors using body cameras, and the department has been seeking grant funding.
The group emphasized that the city councilors, the chief and City Manager Jon Jennings are in harmony over body cameras. But the piecemeal roll-out of information suggests that despite seeming agreement over policy the issue has been caught up in the ongoing feud between the Jennings and Mayor Ethan Strimling.
The announcement came after several activist groups called on the city to move faster in adopting the technology in response to a Portland police officer fatally shooting a 22-year-old man on Saturday.
Mayor Ethan Strimling, who called for an earlier pilot program before the shooting, was not invited to participate in the press conference. And, although Justin Costa and Nicholas Mavodones were absent, the six councilors present emphasized that the Wednesday event was a display of unity.
As the other members of the council spoke, the mayor stood off to one side, a few steps up City Hall’s large marble staircase. When a reporter asked City Councilor Spencer Thibodeau if the event could include questions for Strimling, he said no.
“Again, this is an attempt to show a unified council,” Thibodeau replied.
Jennings said in a Wednesday interview that he and the police chief have been planning a pilot program for at least six months and the mayor was “well aware” of it. They are seeking other grant money and in “the last week or so” made the decision to ask the Department of Justice if they could use leftover grant funds to purchase several body cameras, according to Jennings.
The mayor wasn’t told about the federal money because he didn’t need to know, the city manager said.
“To be honest with you, it’s not [Strimling’s] responsibility,” Jennings said. “Wherever the funds come from it is not his concern.”
The pilot program “has been in the works for some time and is not a surprise to any of us,” Councilor Belinda Ray said Wednesday.
The mayor, however, expressed surprise.
Strimling said he was pleased by the news but only learned at the press conference that there were existing federal funds to buy cameras. He urged the city to spend its own money on a body camera pilot program two days before Portland police Sgt. Nicholas Goodman shot Chance David Baker at Union Station Plaza.
“I have not seen a plan,” Strimling said. “But I look forward to seeing it.”
Jennings could not say when the pilot program might begin, noting the need to finish ongoing negotiations over police union contracts. And at the press conference, city councilors emphasized the need to carefully develop a set of policies for the devices that are already used by several other Maine police forces, including South Portland’s.