Altona police employ body cameras

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This article was published 24/02/2021 (1852 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In a bid to increase public trust and better protect officers, the Altona Police Service has equipped front-line officers with cellphones that act as body cameras.

In October, the police service in the town of 4,200 people, began testing Visual Labs software on officers’ smartphones, which can record video of police interactions, gather still images and track officers’ locations.

The change became permanent for six front-line officers in January.

Police Chief Perry Batchelor said the visual record taken from an officer’s point of view has the potential to keep both police and citizens on their best behaviour.

“Sometimes you’ve got someone who is upset and they act differently when they are recorded,” said Batchelor. “Cameras are everywhere, so it is good to have the officer’s perspective and understand why the officer is doing what they’re doing.”

He expects the change will benefit the public through increased transparency.

“If the police are prepared to release body-worn camera video in all situations where it’s appropriate… you would hope it would increase the public’s trust in the police service,” he said.

Batchelor said he expects the cameras will also quickly address some complaints that could otherwise take thousands of dollars to investigate. For example, he said a theft claim against police was recently disproved when video showed the suspect didn’t have the item in question when he was arrested.

Batchelor said the software costs about $60 per month per device, or about $4,500 annually, since the app was added to department cellphones.

The videos transfer automatically when an officer returns to the police department and connects to its Wi-Fi.

Meanwhile, the policy dictates the circumstances under which officers should record video, including whenever they expect to arrest a suspect or read someone their rights and whenever use of force is possible.

They are also expected to tell members of the public they are being recorded, whenever they can safely do so.

“The policy is a guide and if you have a serious policy breach, then there is potential for disciplinary action,” said Batchelor.

The guidelines list circumstances where video recordings should be avoided, including to protect police tactics or a citizen’s privacy.

Overall, however, the police chief said video has been recorded very often.

“Our officers are turning their cameras on at pretty much every contact,” said Batchelor.

The app is also capable of letting the police chief connect to a livestream video feed from a body camera, in cases where an officer faces a sudden threat, said Alexander Popof, Visual Labs’ chief operating officer.

“It has real-time positional awareness so that if someone was authorized, like a chief of police, they could look at a map at any time of day or night … and see exactly where their officers are,” said Popof. “That’s especially important if there was ever a foot pursuit or the officer stepped away from a vehicle.”

Popof noted the price for the app also tends to be cheaper than adding separate cameras.

Last year, the Winnipeg Police Service estimated such a system could cost as much as $10 million to implement for its more than 1,300 officers.

While WPS had planned a body-cam pilot project in 2015, the effort was cancelled because of its price.

Coun. Markus Chambers, chairman of the Winnipeg Police Board, noted even the unit price noted by Altona would result in a much greater total tab for Winnipeg.

“Cost still is largely the barrier to us having body cameras,” said Chambers.

He said any move to add body cameras here could also face opposition from some Winnipeggers.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga