Police body cams may help with accountability but not prevent violence, B.C. critics caution
Some legal advocates are questioning the effectiveness of police-worn body cameras as the RCMP plans to roll out the technology across the country.
Local police departments, like the one in Saanich, B.C., are also considering using body cameras.
"It can obviously, perhaps, curtail certain behaviours that would not be accepted by the public," said Saanich police Sgt. Steve Eassie.
"It could also help us in resolving public complaint issues that come forward that are not completely forthcoming," he said.
Advocacy group Pivot Legal Society says that while body cams could help improve accountability, it's not clear if they will help prevent police violence.
"It's not this overarching solution to the issues of brutality and harm, which are systematic," said Meenkashi Mannoe, a policing campaigner with Pivot Legal Society.
In the recent killing of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, body-worn cameras recorded police beating him, but did nothing to stop it from happening.
"We're not getting at the root causes of those issues," said Mannoe.
INITIAL FRAMEWORK
The B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police says body cams could be a tool to help rebuild waning trust in the system.
"Hopefully it creates a safer environment for everyone that's involved," said Delta police deputy Chief Harj Sidhu.
To mitigate privacy concerns, Sidhu says the cameras won't roll constantly. He says officers will be trained to hit record at traffic stops and at mental health calls, for example.
"Will there be the odd occasion where we miss something? Yes, that's true," he said. "But we'll try to mitigate that as best we can."
Pivot hopes it's clear that the videos will remain impartial.
"The police cannot and should not have control over the footage," said Mannoe.
Police will be able to access the videos, as they could be used in their investigations, but provincial rules say that videos cannot be altered in any way and that there must be an automatic record of who has accessed them.
"That really provides a framework as to how we deploy body-worn cameras in the province," said Sidhu.
While work is underway to bring the cameras to B.C., there's no firm timeline yet for when the system will launch.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.