Rejecting body cameras has costs, too
Police actions must be subject to public scrutiny, Alain Babineau says.
Last Friday, on the first day of Black History Month, the Montreal police force (SPVM) released its findings to the city’s public security committee about the pilot project on the use of body cameras for front-line officers. In essence, the report concluded that outfitting officers with body cameras would be too expensive and said the benefits of doing so had not been demonstrated.
The SPVM report claims that equipping approximately 3,000 front-line police officers with body cameras would cost $17.4 million over five years, and another $24 million annually to operate and manage the program.
Perhaps not surprisingly, it also found that the cameras were not popular with officers: 89 per cent of SPVM officers asked about the use of body cameras said they felt as if they were being watched and that the cameras were an invasion of privacy.
Most feared the recordings would be used against them.
There is a culture in policing that says, “we can’t be wrong and we don’t need to justify how we do our job!” I spent 28 years of my life in that culture; I know.
The fact is, police officers are “arms of the state” and their actions must be subject to public scrutiny.
Except when it comes to protecting informants, national security matters and maintaining the effectiveness of certain law-enforcement techniques, what police do is not a private matter.
Policing is a costly business and prudent police managers must be good stewards of their far-too-often meagre budgets. But there are other costs that need to enter into their calculations. I believe that law enforcement protects the foundation of our society, and that every police action touches a life in a significant way, positively or negatively. If police lose their legitimacy and the public’s trust, that can compromise their ability and authority to work effectively.
In its report, the SPVM said the results of the pilot project did not clearly demonstrate that equipping officers with body cameras achieved the objectives: boosting public trust, transparency and the safety of officers. I suspect the view would be different in the black and Indigenous communities, from which the vast majority of complaints regarding police misbehaviour come.
Meanwhile, last year, the SPVM announced that it wanted to more than double the number of stun guns in the force by 2020.
This initiative would equip every pair of officers in a patrol car with a stun gun, increasing the total number from 64 to 179. This is a great initiative that would provide officers with a viable alternative to lethal force, while enhancing public safety. Tasers are not cheap, but in this case, money did not seem to be a concern for Montreal’s police service.
I understand and applaud the SPVM’s financial prudence. However, as it is doing with Tasers, how about initially acquiring a smaller number of body cameras to equip officers in the most contentious areas of the city, with the goal of incrementally deploying them to all officers the next few years?
In a democratic society, it is essential that the public perceive law-enforcement actions as lawful and legitimate. Based on the increase in the number of racial profiling complaints against the SPVM over the last few years, I believe the legitimacy of Montreal’s police service among black and Indigenous communities is at stake here.
It was disappointing that Mayor Valérie Plante quickly indicated this week that the city would not be going ahead with implementing the cameras across the force. SPVM officers may not want body cameras, but of all the gadgets and “toys” with which police officers are equipped these days, this might actually be one the SPVM truly needs. Alain Babineau is an adviser at the Montreal-based Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) and a law student at McGill University. He is a former member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
I believe the legitimacy of Montreal’s police service among black and Indigenous communities is at stake.