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Orofino Police | Orofino's park cameras

Cameras went into the city park after a playground fire. Two months later they were sending a live feed to officers' phones and a case was being worked from it.

At a glance

Where
The city park [1] [2]
How many
No count appears in any published city record [1] [2]
Price
No amount appears in any published city record, and no motion or vote on the cameras appears either [1] [2]
Stated reason
A playground fire [1]
Who watches
Police officers, on their computers and phones [2]
How long the video is kept
Not published. No retention period, no policy and no rule for who may view the feed appears in the record [2]

How it happened

  1. Deployment

    Announced in a fire report

    The Fire Chief reports that the department responded to a fire in the park, caused by a smouldering cigarette thrown into the bark where the playground equipment is. More No Smoking signs will be ordered and put up around the playground area. And a new camera system will be installed in the park as soon as the power company sets a pole in the park area. There is no action item, no motion and no vote. [1]

  2. Deployment

    A live feed to officers' phones, already used in a case

    Two months later the police report records that a sergeant is working with an internet provider in the park, installing cameras that will provide a live feed to officers on their computers and phones, and that an officer was able to use some of the pictures from the live feed for a case he was working on. Again there is no action item and no vote. [2]

  3. Context

    Camera equipment still pending

    Council asks about previously discussed camera equipment and staff say coordination with the Police Department is still pending. The minutes do not say which cameras. [3]

In June 2021 the Orofino Fire Chief told the City Council that the department had responded to a fire in the city park. The cause was a smouldering cigarette thrown into the bark where the playground equipment is. More No Smoking signs would be ordered and put back up around the playground. And a new camera system would be installed in the park as soon as the power company set a pole in the park area.[1]

That is the whole of the announcement. It sits in a departmental report, not in an action item. There was no motion, no vote and no price.

What they turned out to be

Two months later the cameras came back in a different report, from a different department. The police report of 10 August 2021 records that a sergeant was working with an internet provider in the park, installing cameras that would provide a live feed to officers on their computers and phones, and that an officer had already been able to use some of the pictures from the live feed for a case he was working on.[2]

So within two months of being announced as a response to a fire, the park cameras were a live investigative feed on police officers’ personal screens, and had produced evidence in at least one case. Nothing in between was put to the Council.

Why this is worth reading slowly

Nobody had to do anything wrong for this to happen. A park burned, a chief said cameras, a sergeant made them work, and an officer used what they showed. Each step is reasonable on its own, and no step required a decision that anyone would have thought to argue about, because no step was ever framed as one.

What is missing is the part a decision would have produced: a count, a price, a map of where the cameras point, a rule for who may watch the live feed and when, and a period after which the video is deleted. None of those exist in Orofino’s published record. The cameras were never a decision, so they never acquired any rules.

In April 2026 the Council asked about previously discussed camera equipment and was told that coordination with the Police Department was still pending. The minutes do not say which cameras.[3]

If you want to know the answers, the Council sits on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month at six, in the chambers on 1st Street, and the City Clerk’s office can tell you how to be heard.

What we do not know

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Sources

  1. 1.
    City of Orofino, Regular Council Meeting Minutes, 8 June 2021, Fire Chief's report · Meeting record · · accessed
  2. 2.
    City of Orofino, Regular Council Meeting Minutes, 10 August 2021, police report · Meeting record · · accessed
  3. 3.
    City of Orofino, Regular City Council Meeting Minutes, 28 April 2026 · Meeting record · · accessed

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