The Vancouver Police are adding cameras to all nine of their wagons to prevent future injuries and increase accountability.
The decision follows recommendations from two separate coroner’s juries.
Those inquests reviewed the deaths of two people who were found unconscious in the back of Vancouver police wagons.
The cameras got the go-ahead Thursday afternoon at a police board meeting and the decision is getting positive attention from the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.
“It’s important to know what exactly is going on back there,” says Josh Paterson with the association. “It is important so that we can have accountability later on.”
He says the expectation is having cameras present may change behaviour and make people realize they are being monitored.
Paterson adds there has to be a lot of care around who gets access to the footage shot by security cameras, how long it is retained for and how it gets used.
“A lot of rules and protocols need to be put in place to ensure people’s privacy,” he says.
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