KAWARTHA LAKES-The City of Kawartha Lakes Police Service is not planning on using body worn cameras (BWC)in the near future.
Police Chief Mark Mitchell made the announcement at the the Police Services Board meeting Thursday.
“We are continuing to evaluate the prospect of deploying body worn cameras, but at this time, we are not pursuing it. While there are some benefits to BWC’s, there are a number of concerns as well.” Mitchell told Kawartha 411 News. “Durham Regional Police have just completed an extensive pilot project and we are looking forward to reviewing the results of that project and other similar studies, to help guide our decision making.”
The service received a letter from the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario inquiring if the service intended to use the cameras.
“As Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC), I recognize the potential value ofimplementing police BWC systems. Recent serious injuries and deaths involving civilians in both Canada and the United States are tragic reminders of the importance of accurately recording and documenting police-civilian encounters.” Patricia Kosseim, Commissioner said. “Increasingly, the public expects such recordings to be available to police oversight bodies for purposes of investigating serious incidents, and in some cases, released more broadly to respond to public interest concerns about police use of force. Receiving accurate and timely information is critical to being able to hold police accountable for their actions.”
The Commissioner went on to say the adding BWC would be good for both the service and the public.
“In addition to transparency and accountability, individuals also value their sense of privacy and expect to it be protected from the unwarranted gaze of the state when they are in private dwellings and even in public places. Law-abiding individuals going about their everyday activities, vulnerable persons experiencing some form of crisis, and innocent family members or friends inclose proximity of a suspect’s arrest may all unwittingly become subject to this form of surveillance.”
Durham Regional Police just completed a pilot project. Toronto police started its first pilot program on body-worn cameras in 2014 and earlier in August the use of the cameras were approved by the Toronto Police Services Board.
Officers is some areas started wearing the cameras this month and 2,350 front-line officers across the city are expected to be wearing them by fall 2021. The move will cost $34.1 million over five years.
“There’s an extensive training component to this so it’s not quite as simple as just giving out a camera,’’ Shawna Coxon, TPS said. “We want to make sure the officers have the appropriate training, including on the privacy issues and the extensive governance we put in place to deal with them.”
Much of the cost for the cameras are for cloud-based storage space to keep the hundreds of hours of video that will be generated by the cameras each day. That was another consideration for Kawartha Lakes Police Service.
“As discussed at the meeting yesterday, there are significant costs with BWC’s. In addition to initial procurement costs, BWC’s generate tremendous amounts of data that has to be stored. There are lots of questions about how that sensitive information will be stored, how long it will be retained, and who has access to it?” Mitchell says.
Coxon notes that BWC could reduce the amount of time officers spend on taking and transcribing notes thus saving money.
“In my view, with the appropriate governance framework in place, BWC systems can be implemented in a manner that reconciles both these needs (of the public and police)and ultimately earns public trust.” stated the Privacy Commissioner.
For now, the Kawartha Lakes Police Service will not be implementing their use.
