The RCMP will begin its roll out of body-worn cameras next week, with nearly the entire force nationally expected to be using the devices a year from now.
“Body-worn video provides increased transparency while also providing a firsthand view of what a police officer encounters, oftentimes in highly dynamic and tense situations,” Taunya Goguen, corporate management officer with the RCMP and director-general of the Worn Camera program, said in a press conference.
Starting Nov. 18, body cameras will be rolled out to about 10 per cent of detachments across the country, with 86 detachments expected to be operational by next month.
Goguen said that over the next nine months, 1,000 officers per month will start using the cameras and digital management system for storing audio and video.
The expectation, she said, is that 50 per cent of cameras will be used by March and April 2025, with the plan for 90 per cent of frontline officers to be using the devices by November 2025.
The organization is expected to have between 10,000 to 15,000 devices deployed to both contract and federal police officers across the country by the end of the rollout, with Goguen noting it would likely take 12 to 18 months for full deployment.
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.
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Last year, the Alberta government announced that such cameras would become mandatory for all officers working in the province.
Goguen said that the objective of the project is to strengthen transparency, accountability and public trust, as well as resolving public complaints more quickly, improving interactions between the public and police, and improving evidence gathering.
The 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.
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.” Police, “whenever possible,” will advise that the camera is recording.
Asked how RCMP will ensure officers utilize the cameras in high pressure situations, Insp. Jordan Arthur, officer in charge for the national traffic programs and operational technology, told reporters the tagline of “seatbelt off, cameras on” is to help in that process.
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.
Goguen said disclosure to the public would be made on an “exceptional” and case-by-case and could occur when the public interest “outweighs the invasion of privacy of an individual.”
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.
Sgt. Trenton Entwistle, national body-worn camera program manager, told reporters that the vendor it went with for the program met all contractual requirements for protecting evidence from potential access by outside actors.
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
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