Winnipeg’s police behind the times when it comes to body-worn cameras

If there were any doubt about the effectiveness of body-worn cameras for police officers, the tragic fatal shooting last week on Sagkeeng First Nation should put that debate to rest.

For only the second time since Manitoba RCMP began equipping front-line officers with body cams last year, video from the incident is now in the hands of the Independent Investigation Unit.

The public will likely never see it — federal privacy legislation all but guarantees that — but investigators will.

And if past experience is any guide, that footage will be critical to understanding what happened, determining whether the use of force was justified, and ultimately ensuring some measure of accountability.

It’s exactly the kind of evidence we don’t have in Winnipeg. And it’s exactly why the Winnipeg Police Service’s ongoing resistance to adopting body-worn cameras is becoming increasingly untenable.

The circumstances surrounding the death of 29-year-old Shay Houle are heartbreaking. RCMP say officers responded to two 911 calls early on Nov. 18, reporting a man armed with a knife at a home on Sagkeeng. There was a confrontation, an officer fired, and Houle later died in hospital.

Houle’s family and friends are now left with anguished questions. Why did events escalate so quickly? Why wasn’t a stun gun used? Did officers have other options?

These questions are not new in Manitoba. Every time someone dies after a police encounter, the public ends up in a fog of uncertainty, competing narratives, gaps in witness accounts and speculation filling the void.

What body-worn cameras offer is not perfect clarity, but a more reliable record. They capture what officers saw, how quickly events unfolded, whether commands were issued and how the suspect behaved.

And the RCMP now have that crucial piece of evidence.

Which raises the question: if the RCMP are finding value in them, why isn’t Winnipeg’s police force using them?

The WPS has spent more than a decade studying, shelving and revisiting the idea of body-worn cameras. City council has debated it, the service has produced reams of reports, and taxpayers have been told repeatedly that costs remain the biggest hurdle.

Meanwhile, RCMP across Canada — including in Manitoba — have begun equipping officers.

The privacy concerns raised in Winnipeg are no different than those faced by the RCMP. The technological challenges? The same. The need for data-storage infrastructure? Also the same.

Yet one police force forged ahead because it recognized that modern policing requires modern tools.

This city, on the other hand, is still wringing its hands while WPS officers are increasingly responding to high-risk calls involving weapons, mental-health crises and volatile domestic situations.

When these incidents turn violent, they become the subject of public scrutiny, civilian investigations and, sometimes, lawsuits.

The WPS argument that costs could reach several millions of dollars a year is true. But it’s incomplete.

The real question is what it costs not to have the cameras. How many investigations become drawn-out and expensive without clear video evidence? How many court cases collapse? How much public trust erodes with each incident that generates more questions than answers?

The RCMP is learning quickly that cameras do more than capture controversial encounters. They also have the potential to change behaviour. Some jurisdictions, including in the U.S., have seen declines in use-of-force incidents and fewer complaints against officers after body cams were introduced.

In the RCMP’s case, body-camera footage from a shooting near Carberry in May provided investigators with critical evidence when an armed woman was shot after reportedly advancing on an officer.

Without video, that incident — like so many before it — would have relied solely on officer testimony and witness recall. Instead, investigators could see precisely what happened.

That should matter in Sagkeeng. It should matter to Houle’s family. And it should matter to every community in Manitoba.

If Winnipeg police had body cameras today, every high-profile incident — from use of force during arrests, to in-custody injuries, to shootings — would be supported by video evidence. The IIU would have stronger files. Courts would have clearer evidence. Families would at least know someone saw the unfiltered truth.

And the public might finally regain a measure of trust in local policing — something Winnipeg desperately needs.

Body-worn cameras are not a cure-all. They won’t prevent every tragedy, resolve every dispute or eliminate public skepticism. But they are now a basic, essential tool in policing. The RCMP recognized that. Other large police services have recognized that.

Last week’s shooting at Sagkeeng shows the cameras are doing exactly what they’re supposed to do — capture evidence that investigators can rely on. That alone is reason enough for Winnipeg police to follow suit.

The only real question left is: what are they waiting for?

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca