Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs says a pilot project to equip local police officers with body cameras is expected to begin around the end of this year or the beginning of next year.
The idea has the backing of the Ottawa Police Association, which says it has been advocating for body cameras for more than 10 years.
“We’re going ahead and installing that product this year into the service, which also includes what we call video oversight — the cameras in our interview rooms when we’re recording witnesses, victims or suspects during interviews,” he said. “So, that’s going ahead this year. The DEMS is a foundational piece that you need for body-worn cameras so you can store all the video. So, that part will be rolled out in 2024.”
“We are preparing for a pilot with body-worn cameras and what we call ALPRs — automated licence plate readers, but basically, they’re dashcams — and that pilot will follow the DEMS and the video oversight installation. So, we’re looking at the end of 2024 or beginning of 2025 for that pilot to start.”
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The devil is in the details. I’m curious what the rules around enabling or disabling the camera will be. And data retention.
And public accessibility as well…
From what I have read up on this, the experience south of the border is that many police departments refuse or delay the release of bodycam footage to investigators, sometimes by over a year. So there goes the transparency one would have hoped bodycams would bring.
Chicago set up an independent civilian agency to be in charge of the footage and eliminate conflicts of interest. I hope Ottawa follows a comparable approach?
