MOVE FAST ON CAMERAS

The inability to provide Calgary Police Service’s front-line officers with body-worn cameras is a setback for those patrolling the streets, and the public. Glitches with the units have prompted the service to abandon plans to provide every officer with the cameras starting in the new year.

It was expected 1,100 cameras would have been distributed by March 2107.

Given the stated purpose of equipping police with the devices — the collection of evidence, improved transparency and public trust, enhanced officer accountability and professionalism, providing the best evidence of police/ public interactions and de-escalating tense situations — the delay is regrettable and threatens to compromise the quality of law enforcement in a city of more than a million people.

Calgary police had been testing the cameras for three years under a $1.3-million project. The department said this week the cameras, which cost about $800 each, proved unreliable.

“Unfortunately, that’s the case. It’s a huge disappointment,” Deputy police chief James Hardy said Wednesday.

Calgary is considering a legal fight to recover the money it paid to the cameras’ supplier, but it’s reasonable to question why it took three years to determine the devices weren’t up to the task. Surely, shortcomings could have been identified sooner as the technology was tested.

It was eight months ago, after all, that the department examined about 150 cameras after the button on the built-in radio microphone became stuck on some units, which can cause interference with the police radio network.

The department is now looking for a different camera provider, but even when a new model is selected, it will have to be tested, and if it passes muster, sufficient numbers will have to be ordered and officers will have to be trained on using the technology.

As the police service has noted, body-worn cameras — which are activated when officers are responding to a call or come across an incident requiring investigation — are a valuable tool for both sides of any exchange. It was footage captured on a police dashboard camera last summer, remember, that led to three Calgary constables being charged with assault for allegedly beating a man who ran from a traffic stop.

More recently, a 76-year-old resident was fatally shot after reportedly approaching officers with a butcher knife. There were no cameras to help clarify the incident, which is unfortunate. What’s a bigger pity is it could be years before city police begin wearing them.

The department should move ahead as prudently and as quickly as possible in acquiring a suitable replacement for the rejected cameras.