Topic of body cams emerges again at Regina police commissioners meeting

 

Topic of body cams emerges again at Regina police commissioners meeting (msn.com)

Topic of body cams emerges again at Regina police commissioners meeting

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Topic of body cams emerges again at Regina police commissioners meeting

Brandon Harder - 5h ago

 

Whether or not Queen City cops should wear body-mounted cameras could become something of an “annual” question.

 

This Saskatoon StarPhoenix file photo shows a Saskatoon Police Service constable demonstrating one of the body-worn cameras to be worn as part of a pilot project launched in that city in April 2022.© Provided by Leader Post

 

That’s according to the city’s mayor and member of the city’s board of police commissioners Sandra Masters, who indicated to members of the media that she’s not yet sold on the idea as being right for Regina, right now.

 

“In some respects, it would appear hard to justify millions of dollars,” Masters said, pointing to statistics offered during Tuesday’s commissioners meeting held at Regina Police Service (RPS) headquarters.

Earlier, the city’s police chief told the commissioners that the force has “hundreds of thousands” of interactions with the public in a year. Last year, they received more than 100,000 calls for service, not including traffic stops. Over the year, roughly 100 public complaints were lodged, and “of those, under 10 per cent were substantiated,” Chief Evan Bray said.

In November, an RPS report put before commissioners indicated an equipment cost of around $1 million to equip 300 officers with cameras, and an annual operating cost of $1.2 million.

The mayor also spoke about resources being an issue for Regina police, and noted that the city was playing “catch up” with Saskatoon, which she pointed out has had a police plane for years.

During the meeting, Bray referenced comments made in June of 2020 by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said body-worn cameras were something “we need to move forward with.”

 

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“That’s an easy statement to make, but there’s a big cost to it,” Bray said of Trudeau’s comments.

Masters said if direction was coming from the federal government, she would like to see federal money offered to help offset the cost.

Discussion Tuesday centred largely on other methods of police accountability, as presented in a report that included both technical elements like cameras in vehicles and facilities, as well as administrative oversight, both internal and external.

Bray later said that the cameras would “absolutely” help police in terms of being a tool allowing greater analysis of the work done by officers.

But he cautioned that body-worn camera video can lack context, not unlike cellphone video from an onlooker. Information about what led to the event, the officer’s state and previous experiences is all missing from the video, he said, noting this has led some officers in areas that have long employed the cameras to “narrate” their own video in an effort to provide that context.

The Saskatoon Police Service launched a body-worn camera pilot project in April.

“I spoke with Chief (Troy) Cooper about it,” Bray said.

“It’s predominantly been effective in showing the work that their officers are doing and dispelling or negating complaints that come in,” Bray said.

However, he noted that project has been more expensive than originally expected.

When asked whether he thought current accountability measures were enough and did not warrant the addition of body-worn cameras, Bray offered a lengthy response, including points on cost, benefits, drawbacks and the strength of existing police oversight in Canada, but concluded by saying it will be a topic of discussion between police and commissioners.

bharder@postmedia.com

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