A criminologist says there's "very strong support" in 性视界传媒 for police officers to wear body cameras.
Curt Griffiths and Stephanie Johnston, both Ph.Ds in criminology, presented an executive summary of the results of a 2024 性视界传媒 Police Service Community Consultation campaign during an Oct. 29 性视界传媒 Police Board meeting.
Griffiths said there is "very strong support from stakeholder groups in officers wearing and being equipped with body-worn cameras.
"The constant phrase that we use and will bring accountability and transparency to policing in 性视界传媒 but stakeholders also know that it holds community residents accountable as well," Griffiths told the board, with a "caveat.
"It's not a be-all and end-all, but it's a critical piece of information 鈥� particularly in critical incidents it's one piece of evidence, one piece of documentation."
While Delta Police officers wear body cameras, 性视界传媒 Mounties do "not at this time," 性视界传媒 RCMP Cpl. Sarbjit Sangha noted. "It hasn't been rolled out to us yet."
The RCMP is field-testing cameras during a pilot project in Mission, Kamloops, Cranbrook, Prince George, Tofino, Ucluelet and Ahousaht as part of its modernization plan.
Chief Constable Norm Lipinski, officer in charge of the SPS, noted that body-worn cameras "have been around in North America for quite some time. Specifically in Canada, many agencies in the last 10 years are pointed in that direction and we certainly discussed it here at SPS and have done an 'environmental scan' and it is something that we will be bringing to the board and in 2025 I'm hopeful to have a pilot project.
"And it's important that I note it's a pilot project," Lipinski said at the board meeting. "Probably a handful of cameras and then we'll see how the policies work and also the mechanics and the retention, the preparation for court, it all goes into that. Now generally speaking, the individual that is dealing with the police officer, the police officer will inform the individual that this is being recorded on camera."
Deputy Chief Constable Todd Matsumoto is tasked with developing the policy.
"We have examined policies from across Canada and in most cases there are provisions in the policies to inform the public that they are being recorded but there are also provisions where that notification might not be practical to deliver," Matsumoto said, "so we'll flesh that out in our policy."
He said officers are permitted to turn the cameras off "in certain circumstances that have to be spelled out in policy and will be available for the public to see, but also training for the police officer when that is appropriate and when that's not."
The next board meeting is set for Nov. 27.
On Nov. 16, 2023, the provincial government appointed Mike Serr, a retired Abbotsford Police chief, as temporary administrator of the board.
"The government has taken this extraordinary step to ensure the policing transition can be completed efficiently and effectively," the . "During this time, all board members鈥� appointments will be paused and they will resume their roles once the Province determines that the work of the Administrator is complete."
