Policing with body cameras
In Nova Scotia, the Halifax Regional Police force is moving towards all uniformed members having bodyworn cameras, but it’s a slow process. While the force is looking at rolling out 300 body cameras for officers over the next five years, they wouldn’t be standard issue until late 2022 or early 2023. It’s a $3.7-million project.
In St. John’s, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary is in favour of having body cams — they were, in fact, recommended by a commission of inquiry into a police shooting — but the provincial government has balked at the cost.
Some other forces have moved ahead with the cameras, including in Kentville and Truro, N.S., and Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick.
The RCMP plans to equip its officers as well but hasn’t yet seen the Atlantic provinces as a priority for the equipment.
It’s been a slow process. Many forces support the idea in theory but have had a hard time acquiring the funds needed to equip their officers. Cameras are already in place with many departments, so there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.
The cameras aren’t without controversy: they don’t only collect direct interactions between police and the public but can capture a broad range of images well beyond a close-up. That’s brought the issue of body-worn cameras to the attention of privacy watchdogs across the country.
DIFFERENT VERSIONS
But while the debate goes on, we’re still regularly faced with situations where versions of what has taken place in a confrontation between the police and the public can be wildly different. Video and audio would be another tool to better establish what actually took place.
One interesting point?
Video is a valuable investigative tool, and most police forces implicitly admit that already. Consider this common line from a Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) news release: “the RNC accident investigators are asking that witnesses, or anyone with dash camera footage in the area of Pitts Memorial Drive at the Commonwealth Avenue Exit around the time of the collision to contact the RNC …”
Or this, from the Halifax police: “Investigators obtained video of a man who was in the area at the time of the assault. …”
Charlottetown, P.E.I. and St. John’s police already use remote video surveillance to help gather evidence.
Video — especially with audio — can help fill in crucial blanks about what has occurred during stressful interactions between police and the public.
There are legitimate concerns about the storage of information, its use and the protection of privacy, as well as concerns about things that might occur beyond the scope of the camera’s lens.
But it can also go a long way towards helping build trust between police officers and the public they are sworn to serve and protect. Perhaps the cost — which seems to be the main barrier to the use of body cameras — should be viewed as a policing necessity.