Body camera plan part of budget talks

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This article was published 27/03/2021 (1834 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A proposal to add Winnipeg police body cameras will be part of the city’s 2022 budget talks.

Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth said he’ll work on a potential plan that could add the technology, if funding is approved.

“We continue to hear pressure from the community and from the (police) board about really earnestly going down that road… We will take a close look at it,” said Smyth.

The chief said he supports the change, though the cost has been a roadblock to pursuing it. WPS had planned a pilot project to test out the devices in 2015 but that effort was cancelled. Last year, police estimated such a system could cost up to $10 million to implement for roughly 1,350 officers.

Winnipeg Police Board chairman Markus Chambers asked Smyth to explore the idea Friday.

Chambers noted Altona police officers use cellphones equipped with software, which costs $60 per device monthly.

He said dedicated, non-cellphone cameras have also come down in price, indicating the change could be more affordable now and fit within budget levels.

Chambers said body-camera recordings could offer an objective look at policing, to address accusations of poor conduct.

“I am hoping that with body-worn cameras, there’ll be that increased accountability,” he said.

Smyth said he expects Altona’s system could lack the storage capacity for video that a much larger service such as Winnipeg would require. He said recent body-camera programs in Calgary and Toronto could offer a better path to follow, through a phased-in approach that spreads out the cost.

Smyth said he agrees cameras could improve transparency.

“It would just be another layer of information to validate either what our members have reported or validate what people in the community say they saw,” he said.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga