Labor Board to Hear "Body Camera" Challenge

Posted Friday, August 18, 2017 by Andrew Charles Huff

A state labor board has agreed to hear an unfair-labor-practice complaint brought by the Seattle police officers’ union challenging Mayor Ed Murray’s executive order directing the Police Department to equip patrol officers with body cameras. The complaint alleges the city had unilaterally implemented the plan without providing the union an opportunity to bargain over the issue.

In a preliminary ruling issued Wednesday, the state Public Employment Relations Commission found that assuming the alleged facts are true and provable, “it appears that unfair labor practice violations could be found.”

The guild, which represents more than 1,300 officers and sergeants, reiterated that it does not oppose body cameras, but that the city must follow state bargaining laws.Under the executive order, bicycle officers in the West Precinct, which includes the downtown area, were directed to begin using body cameras by July 22.