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Seattle police union files complaint over body-camera order

In this April 27, 2017, file photo, a police officer wears a newly issued body camera, part of the first phase of a plan to equip 22,000 officers with body cameras, outside the 34th precinct in New York. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray on Monday, July 17, 2017, ordered the city's police department to equip patrol officers with body cameras, saying he doesn't want any other serious uses of force to go unrecorded. (Mary Altaffer / Associated Press)
Associated Press

SEATTLE – The Seattle Police Officers Guild has filed a complaint over Mayor Ed Murray’s decision to require officers to wear body cameras.

The union said Wednesday it’s not opposed to body cameras, but the issue must be addressed through collective bargaining.

Murray announced on July 17 that negotiations over the use of body cameras had stalled and he was taking immediate action to avoid having any significant uses of force undocumented by video, as happened last month when two officers killed Charleena Lyles, a 30-year-old mother with mental health problems. Bicycle officers downtown began using body cameras on Saturday.

But the guild denies that talks had broken down, and says it and the city have met for only one negotiation session since a body-camera pilot program ended last March.

The unfair labor practice complaint was filed with the state Public Employees Relations Commission.