Portland Police Demand Body Cameras, No Money Mayor Says

Portland, Oregon, is one of the few major U.S. cities where police do not wear body cameras and that doesn’t sit well with officers on the street.

"I’d love to have a body camera. Every person I work with wants to have a body camera, because we want them to see the good work that we do," said an active-duty Portland police officer with over 15 years on the job but who is not authorized to speak to the media.

"I know why they don't want body cameras on police officers in the City of Portland," Daryl Turner, executive director of the Portland Police Association, told Fox . "Because the rhetoric that we see from the media, the rhetoric that we see from the politicians would be not true. They would see that in color on those cameras the work that we do is good work."

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler says he supports police body cameras but tells Fox News there are "significant financial challenges created by the virus-caused recession."

Police say its defunding not COVID-19 that prevents the agency from having body cameras.

According to the police union, Portland has de-funded its police department by approximately $30,000,000 since June of last year.