Portland may be “The City That Works”, but the city’s speed camera program doesn’t. And that’s costing a bundle. 

Portland started using fixed speed cameras to identify and fine drivers in 2016. It began by issuing warnings starting on Aug. 25 of that year for violations occurring on the SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway corridor. The program started issuing formal speeding tickets at the end of a 30-day trial period on Sept. 24, 2016.

 But a persistent problem quickly emerged. Every photograph had to reviewed and every citation had to be issued by a sworn police officer. That was creating a backlog in processing citations and hindering the city’s ability to expand its automated enforcement program. 

In 2020, Portland’s fixed speed cameras issued 38,502 tickets. Each one had to be reviewed by a sworn police officer, a massive time sink to say the least. 

Finally, in 2022 a solution was found when the Legislature took up HB4105, which allowed the City of Portland to utilize non-police staff (specifically, “duly authorized traffic enforcement agents”) to review and issue citations based on photographs from fixed speed cameras, thereby freeing up police officers to focus on other duties.  

Support for the bill was widespread. 

“Allowing duly authorized enforcement agents to review citations will create more review capacity – while at the same time ensuring that appropriate training and certification for reviewing personnel are in place,” the City of Portland testified before the House Committee on Rules. “This will address police capacity as well as traffic safety needs.”

Multnomah County testified that requiring police officers to review and issue citations “reduces the capacity (of sworn police officers) for other police priorities and also creates a costly barrier to use of automated enforcement.”

Dana Dickman, at the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), testified that not only was each traffic safety camera violation being reviewed by a sworn police officer, but “100% of traffic safety camera violation review occurs on police overtime. Expanding the pool of qualified reviewers would lower the cost of this function.”

Reporting on HB 4105, Willamette Week noted that Portland was then advertising a starting salary for officers of $66,934. “In a 2,000-hour year, that’s $33.47 an hour. At time-and-a-half, an officer would be paid $50 an hour to review photo radar tickets.” Willamette Week said those payments explained why the Portland police union opposed changing the law.

Maybe that’s why once the bill passed in 2022, any sense of urgency in implementing it seemed to evaporate.

In December 2024, Jonathan Maus, publisher/editor of BikePortland’s news site, reported that he had asked the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s (PBOT) Communications Director, Hannah Schafer, about the status of implementing the new authority given to them in HB 4105. “PBOT is currently developing the program that will result in PBOT staff reviewing and issuing citations for moving violations from the automated enforcement cameras,” Schafer replied.

Well, here we are in October 2025, 34 months after the effective date of the law, and sworn police officers are still reviewing each and every moving violation recorded by one of the city’s cameras. 

Earlier this year, Willamette Week reported that even though speed cameras have been effective, more have not been installed because, as PBOT spokesman Dylan Rivera put it, police officers are currently the ones to review all citations, mostly on overtime shifts, and the bureau is limited by police availability. They’re also hamstrung by capacity at the Multnomah County Circuit Court, which adjudicates the citations.

Meanwhile, the cost of all that overtime? I filed a public records request to find out and it took repeated requests to get the precise numbers I asked for:

It comes out of the fines paid by speed scofflaws, not the city budget, but still, that’s $180,342.37 down the drain and into police officers’ pockets. 

The overtime rule has obviously been quite lucrative for some Portland Police officers. A complete annual breakdown in overtime payments each year is provided in the footnote.^[1]

In July 2025, PBOT’s Speed Safety Camera Program Manager, Steve Hoyt-McBeth, told me he’s “very eager to get the ( duly authorized enforcement agents ) program up and running” but “the current holdup is funding”.

Hiring the positions had been held for approximately six months because of PBOT’s budget challenges, he said. “I was hopeful that I’d be able to begin the recruitment this summer, but the lack of a funded state transportation package, which puts an approximately $11 million hole in PBOT’s FY25-26 has kept the pause button pressed.”

Hoyt-McBeth said part of the holdup is also tied to staff capacity to develop the program. “No municipality in Oregon currently utilizes the statutory authority to have Agents issue citations, so we have to develop the training and program ourselves without a template from another jurisdiction,” he said.

So, when are the Portland Police going to relinquish their lucrative overtime work on speed camera violations and pass it on to non-police staff? 

Don’t hold your breath.

---

^[1]

Year	2022
Officer	Overtime Hours	Overtime Compensation ($)
1	159	13802.83
2	128	9818.92
3	98.33	8621.66
4	60	5177.85
5	19	1580.44
6	12	1150.1
7	9.5	425.7
8	4	366.71
9	4	359.28
10	4	331.44
11	4	329.64
Grand Total	501.83	41964.57
Year	2023
Row Labels	Overtime Hours	Overtime Compensation
1	173	15559.57
2	145	12756.66
3	77.5	7334.17
4	7.84	642.96
5	4	346.76
6	4	298.32
7	0.25	24.63
Grand Total	411.59	36963.07
Year	2024
Officer	Overtime Hours	Overtime Compensation ($)
1	196	19167.56
2	120	12019.85
3	60	5132.4
4	25.5	2659.74
5	14	1377.88
9	4	406.2
6	3.5	220.61
7	0	7.32
Grand Total	423	40991.56
Year	2025
Officer	Overtime Hours	Overtime Compensation ($)
1	192.13	19916.23
2	198	19700.98
3	110	11201.88
4	74.75	4862.33
5	45.33	3936.23
6	4	417.84
7	4	387.68
Grand Total	628.21	60423.17