Delta police are expanding a limited pilot project using body-worn cameras to their team targeting gang and gang affiliates, in what will be a provincial first.
Police say Axon, the camera manufacturer, has told them it will be the first time the devices are regularly worn by front-line officers in B.C.
According to the Delta Police Department, officers have come in contact with several known gang members and affiliates over the last week, interactions where they seized drugs, cash and a sword.
“The team using the cameras has a mandate to intercept potential gang activity, and interact with those involved in the gang conflict,” DPD Chief Neil Dubord said in the release.
“We want to do everything we can to reduce the risk of violent behaviour by gang members.”
The DPD has been conducting a limited-use pilot with the Axon cameras since January, which has consisted mostly of use during officer training.
That pilot was supposed to end in May, but with the recent spike in gang-related violence, the Delta Police Board has extended it until September 2021.
On May 1, a B.C. Corrections officer was gunned down in a busy parking lot in North Delta, a killing Delta’s police chief said “all the markings of (being) gang-related.”
Delta police will be equipped with eight cameras, worth $8,600 together.
According to the DPD, officers will “follow restrictive guidelines on their use,” which it said will also help keep data storage costs down.
In 2019, British Columbia developed standards for the use of body-worn cameras, but the technology has not been widely adopted.
The City of Burnaby is in the process of potentially sourcing body-worn cameras for some of its bylaw officers.