The RCMP is expected to provide an update Thursday on its plan to roll out body-worn cameras for its police force on a national scale, and how its data storage system will operate.
According to its website, the organization is expected to begin rolling out the cameras this month in stages with the end goal to have between 10,000 to 15,000 devices deployed to both contract and federal police officers across the country.
“This means that all frontline RCMP officers will be wearing body cameras when national roll-out is complete,” its website reads.
The plan was first announced in 2020 and in the past few years has seen policies and training being developed and undertaken, and field testing being conducted in 2023 and 2024 in Alberta, Nova Scotia and Nunavut detachments.
Body-worn cameras are used by other police forces across Canada, with officers in Edmonton starting to wear the cameras this past September as part of a phased rollout.
Last year, the Alberta government announced that such cameras would become mandatory for all officers working in the province.
The RCMP says on its website that body-worn cameras will be activated during calls for service, including mental health calls, interactions with people in crisis, public disorder and protests, and crimes in progress.
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The policy also requires that the camera start recording before arriving at a call for service as well as “when initiating contact with a member of the public as part of a lawful execution of their duties.”
However, it adds that the cameras won’t be used for 24-hour recording, surveillance or when intimate searches are conducted.
When police are recording, they are required to continue doing so until they determine safety is no longer a concern and it “no longer benefits the investigation.”
The force says the decision to wear cameras is in part to ensure Canadians “feel protected by, and have trust in their national police force.”
“Body-worn cameras can help increase trust between police and the communities they serve because the video collected will provide an independent, unbiased and objective way to capture interactions between the community and police officers,” the website reads.
Members of the public will have the right to access the recording by making a formal request under either the federal Privacy Act or Access to Information Act, though the RCMP may also disclose footage from a camera if a determination is made it is in the public interest to do so.
Video will be “securely stored” in a cloud-based digital evidence management system, with officers required to place the camera upon returning from a shift or as soon as possible into a docking station to charge and offload any video captured.
The recordings will be kept by RCMP, depending on the type of incident captured, for 30 days to two years or more, with more serious incidents or crimes being kept longer.
The federal government in the 2020 fall economic statement committed nearly $240 million over the course of six years, with $50 million in ongoing annual funding.
— with files from The Canadian Press and Global News staff
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
