‘Video is the way of the future’
Edmonton police department to add body cameras to some officers’ uniforms
Edmonton police plan to equip officers involved in “high-risk interactions with the public” with body-worn video cameras, despite inconclusive results as to the technology’s overall benefit.
The move follows a three-year pilot project from 2011 to 2014.
Body-worn cameras may provide valuable evidence in criminal investigations, but come with “significant challenges,” Deputy Chief Danielle Campbell said Tuesday.
Those challenges include the cost of reporting, storing and reviewing video footage, she said. There’s also a concern as to when police should hit record as the batteries only last about 2-1/2 hours. Work for police will increase, possibly affecting front-line service.
The pilot project used 56 cameras distributed to officers from downtown division and various beats, including West Edmonton Mall and Whyte Avenue. Officers tested the cameras, which cost about $1,000 each, for more than 18 months.
The subsequent study found the small, clip-on cameras did not significantly reduce use of force. Police interactions with people depended more on the situation, not on the cameras worn by officers.
The officers who participated in the project had mixed reactions about the technology, citing concerns about acting “robotic” and being less able to build a rapport with people on the street.
They said the presence of the cameras “could cause them to hesitate to use appropriate levels of force.” Other first responders were at times hesitant to support officers with cameras, but at other times, they welcomed them, the study found.
The study recommended Edmonton police wait before investing further in the technology and monitor ongoing initiatives by the RCMP, Calgary, Amherstburg, Ont., and Toronto police departments, while considering the cameras for specific units where the benefits might outweigh the cost.
The RCMP spent $12,600 acquiring 32 cameras for a study and Calgary police are aiming to provide 1,100 cameras to officers by the end of the year.
Edmonton police plan to proceed with the cameras, deploying them gradually in the next two to five years, starting with units such as the specialized traffic apprehension team that intercepts high-risk vehicles, the tactical team, where weapons might be involved; and the public order unit.
Pending approval from the police commission and funding from city council, the cameras could be part of some uniforms, starting next year.
“Those units are responding to calls where they’re going to find people committing an offence,” Campbell said. “And so the value of collecting that evidence when they find people committing the offence will be hugely beneficial legally for the court system.”
Hamilton police estimated that if it were to issue 190 body-worn video cameras, the first year of the program would cost $15 million. The Ontario Provincial Police estimated it would cost $20 million over the first year for 4,400 cameras.
With police facing increased scrutiny from people carrying camera-equipped smartphones, and recent high-profile police shootings in the United States, there have been calls to equip police with cameras in the hopes it will increase accountability.
“Science and technology has and provides value-added improvement to the collection of evidence. We’ve seen that with the advancement of DNA. Video is the way of the future,” Campbell said.
“This technology is valuable to policing and it would be a missed opportunity not to see how it could be deployed for the collection of evidence.”