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Body cams to be mandatory for some SPD officers starting Saturday

Some Seattle police officers are now wearing body cameras.

Starting Saturday, body cams will be mandatory for some Seattle police officers for the first time.

Mayor Ed Murray signed an executive order on Monday, despite ongoing negotiations with the police union.

The rollout will begin with bicycle officers in the West Precinct. All other officers in the West Precinct, which includes downtown Seattle, must be wearing body cams by Sept. 30.

Seattle police were again under scrutiny by the public in the recent officer-involved shooting of Charleena Lyles.

The officers involved were not wearing body cams during the shooting.

Under Murray’s new executive order, police will be able to turn the camera on and off.

"The more discretion you give to law enforcement officers to turn cameras on or off, the more you actually risk exacerbating the violence,” said Shankar Narayan with the ACLU.

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"I think we have to try it first with them being able to turn it on and off, and with the requirement that they turn it on if they are responding to a call and if that doesn't work, we just need to go having them on all the time,” president of the South Seattle Crime Prevention Council Pat Murakami said.

So for now, officers will be required to turn cameras on for all 911 calls, traffic stops, arrests, seizures, searches, transports, vehicle pursuits and questioning of victims, suspects and witnesses.

Officers do not record inside restrooms, jails or medical facilities unless a crime is in progress.