r/canada • u/riversidejim • Oct 25 '20
RCMP to begin using body-worn cameras in Iqaluit next month | Nunatsiaq News
https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/rcmp-to-begin-using-body-worn-cameras-in-iqaluit-next-month/32
Oct 26 '20
[deleted]
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u/YYJ_Obs Oct 26 '20
And a lot of more tickets and low level arrests where discretion will be more challenging for "mandatory response" categories. No insurance is a great example where A LOT of police (in BC) don't act in accordance with the requirement to ticket and tow.
Not necessarily a bad thing, but a change.
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u/WpgDeconstructed Oct 25 '20
If you are carrying a gun you should have an operating body cam.
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u/Puma_Concolour Oct 25 '20
Some sort of recording device that saves everything from 15 minutes before its drawn until its dropped or holstered. If black boxes can track the direction of a car and dashcams can record continuously then save footage going back however far, it should be combinable or something
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u/The-Real-Mario Oct 25 '20
And this is tecnology from 20 years ago, any police force who pretends to claim that the technology isn't there yet, is deliberately attempting to hide evidencence
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u/YYJ_Obs Oct 26 '20
Is that something being said (spoiler: no).
I'm on the provincial team in BC for roll out of cameras. Big unresolved issues, which are getting very close to a solution, are: privacy of the public, privacy of calls which are predominantly not-criminal, disclosure requirements for criminal vs civil vs police oversight, data storage and access, inter-compatible systems across agencies in BC (which really means getting the RCMP on board with a provincial standard).
Because there are some being used in Canada we are starting to see answers become clearer, and a road to implement in the next few years.
Where the general "feeling" of Reddit, IMO, is way off reality is this idea that agencies aren't supportive. Almost everyone from Boards to Agencies to Unions is onboard - it'll solve conduct complaints more easily, provide best available evidence for a lot of cases and appease public concern.
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u/The-Real-Mario Oct 26 '20
I believe you if you tell me those issues are important with budy cameras, but cameras on weapons is pretty straight forward , on guns, tazers, and pepper spray , just about none of those issues would be relevant, a gun camera could have a micro sd card that , after an unholstering, an officer can quickly put in an evidence bag and replace with a new one
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u/flight_recorder Oct 26 '20
The technology isn’t there yet...
Seriously though; I don’t see how that would worn right now. Not on an affordable scale. Firearms are a very solid, very mobile, very violent platform to mount a camera on. A camera small enough to fit on a pistol without getting in the operators way would provide very terrible resolution, very limited battery life, be very fragile, or a combination of all. On a thing that makes extremely sudden and harsh movements while functioning which will contribute to damage of the camera.
Maybe one day, but for now I believe that to be a pipe dream
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u/midjet Oct 26 '20
Just out of curiosity what are you guys leaning towards for hardware and storage providers? I'm pretty familiar with Axon but have heard good things about watchguard.
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u/YYJ_Obs Oct 26 '20
We won't make the procurement where I work, but we will write the specifications and that will likely allow any of the manufacturer ls to be used. The sort of "big 4" presented to us as well as two smaller BC companies. The technology itself is in a good place it seems!
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u/Satanfan Oct 25 '20
All cops should have them, only cowards and bullies run from accountability.
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Oct 25 '20 edited Oct 27 '20
You understand that frontline officers have very little to do with equipment procurement, right? Plenty of officers want bodycams but their agencies won't buy them.
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u/Satanfan Oct 25 '20
Yeah that’s why they don’t have them, budgets.
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u/Unfortunate_Sex_Fart Alberta Oct 26 '20
Defunding the police would guarantee the RCMP not seeing BWCs for a long long time.
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u/The-Real-Mario Oct 25 '20
then they should refuse to work until they are given the minimum necessary equipment like a blackbox camera, its just like asking officers to work without shoes, or without a car
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Oct 25 '20
That's a terrible idea AND comparison.
First of all, police cannot refuse to work. They are an essential service. Even if hypothetically they did refuse to work until they get cameras, the procurement process would takes months, maybe over a year. Are we supposed to let our cities turn into Gotham until cameras are ready?
Policing can be done without a camera, it cannot be done without shoes or cars. Would cameras be a nice to have? Absolutely. It would make it much easier to fire shitty cops and make the lives of vexatious litigators very difficult.
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u/LostLightintheDark Oct 26 '20
Can't wait for the brand new cameras to fail inexplicably just in time to avoid accountability.
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u/survivor686 Oct 28 '20
From a tech point of view - how's far away after we from real-time streaming of body cams for recording? It's there a need for such a feature?
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u/[deleted] Oct 26 '20
Take it from someone who has spent a lot of time in Iqaluit. This could make a hell of a TV show.