Dash cameras promised for city police still delayed
EPS now requesting money set aside for cameras be used for an info system
Police want to use money set aside for dash cams for a different purpose, prolonging the delay of a project promised by Edmonton police Chief Dale Mcfee nearly two years ago.
In the spring budget update heading to city council on Tuesday, Edmonton Police Services (EPS) is requesting to put more than $4 million earmarked for in-car video cameras toward the Computer Automated Dispatch and Records Management System Integration, Modernization and Maximization (CRIMM) project. This project is billed as a way to build an information system that will modernize and streamline police record-keeping and improve crime analytics.
Why exactly the dash cams are delayed isn't clear. Official explanations conflict and timelines do not match up.
BUDGET CHANGES?
The Edmonton Police Commission (EPC) declined multiple requests for an interview. Postmedia reached out separately to EPC and EPS and received a joint email response from Matthew Barker, executive director of the commission.
Barker said in an email the in-car cameras are delayed because city council didn't give the police the budget increases it expected. But a 30-camera pilot is in the works, he said.
“The reduction in planned funding increases has delayed the implementation of in-car video, and the $4 million was therefore moved to the CRIMM project. ... It is also important to consider flexibility in our business plans when the environment changes,” Barker said.
“The in-car camera project has not been abandoned. The police commission is currently looking to current and future budget opportunities to continue this work.”
EXPLANATIONS DIFFER, TIMELINES CLASH
EPS, however, offered the commission a different explanation in January of this year.
“Timeline delays for in-car video are due to a longer than anticipated request for proposal process. Vendor selection and award is expected to be completed by the end of (Quarter 1) 2022,” the budget update says.
A report to EPC last November said police expect to choose a vendor in early 2022 and spend most of these funds this year.
The timeline around 2020's police funding discussion also doesn't match Barker's explanation.
EPS would have known the department would get less money than previously expected when it pitched funding for in-car cameras to council in November 2020, and when the request was finalized in the budget the next month. Council approved freezing the police funding formula and reducing the increase, in principle, in July 2020.
Barker said modernizing the EPS information system with CRIMM is a “prerequisite” to the cameras.
“The CRIMM project will contribute significantly to public transparency, as it will improve data reporting abilities. This project was initially planned to be managed in the next budget cycle, however this was advanced to the current cycle due to its importance as a foundational technology,” Barker said.
Budgeting documents also show EPS has been working on the CRIMM project since at least 2020.
TRANSPARENCY DIFFICULT
Coun. Michael Janz is concerned that the previous council funded in-car cameras but the timeline shifted with little or no notification and explanation.
“It appears clear that the police do not want to have in-car video and that they're not making it a priority,” he said. “How is council kept in the loop, how's the taxpayer and the public kept in the loop?”
The delay and explanation from the commission show it's difficult to get accountability and transparency when it comes to how police spend money, Janz said.
“At a time where every single other aspect of our city budget is getting put through the wringer, it should be no different when it comes to the operations of the police,” he said. “We need to increase the transparency.”
Janz added the CRIMM program is likely defensible but he would like to see more details.
DASH CAMS OR BODY CAMS?
When it comes to in-vehicle cameras, Janz is open-minded about the idea, but he's not in favour of body cameras as some research suggests they aren't the right tool.
Officer-worn body cameras were not recommended by police when giving a presentation to the commission in the summer of 2020. EPC ended up recommending in-car cameras over body-worn cameras because “it best reaches the outcome of increasing public trust, while being a good steward of public resources,” a document presented to council in November 2020 says.
EPS ran a body-worn video pilot between 2011 and 2014 and released a report in 2015.
While EPS has rejected the idea of body cameras for human police officers, they received $10,812 from Edmonton Police Foundation last year toward buying a K9 Storm remote camera worn by a police dog, budget documents show.