Winnipeg councillor pitches cameras for cops

The Winnipeg Police Service will be looking at the idea of equipping its officers with cameras.

Coun. Scott Fielding presented a motion on Friday asking the police service to conduct research into wearable cameras for officers, with the goal of protecting officers against false allegations and securing convictions in court.

"It's something to make the community safer and add some accountability to it, while it helps prosecute people and collect evidence," he said.

"I think it just makes a lot of sense," he added."It's going to be more efficient and a lot of times what happens is people will even plead guilty with these things because the evidence is right there on camera."

About $1 million have already been set aside in the 2016 police budget for body-mounted cameras. Fielding estimated the cameras would cost between $900 and $1,200 each.

Cameras used in Calgary

Fielding said the cameras have been used in other jurisdictions in Canada and added that one California city, Rialto, saw an 88 per cent drop in complaints against police.

"What they've seen is a dramatic drop, not just in incidents where people are reporting police abuse but also aggressive behaviour from citizens," he said.

Police officers in Calgary have been using body-mounted cameras since last November, and officials say it has made a difference.

• Calgary police keeping cameras on uniforms

For example, the cameras have helped balance the cellphone video footage recorded by members of the public, said Supt. Nina Vaughan.

"Our ability to provide the full context and additional transparency around what actually happened, I think, is really important and valuable for the police and for members of the public to see as well," she said.

Concerned about costs

Now that Fielding has introduced the motion, the Winnipeg Police Service will study it.

The proposal comes just before the expected release of an independent report recommending cuts to the police service.

Winnipeg Police Chief Devon Clunis said while he isn't necessarily against putting cameras on his officers, he has concerns about the costs.

"Is this the best expenditure of the limited resources that we have at this time?," he told reporters.

"We really need to look into that before wesay this is what we are going to do."

Mike Sutherland, president of the Winnipeg Police Association, shares the police chief's concerns.

"It won't be merely a million dollars. It will be a fairly significant administrative cost that could be maybe one, two or three or more times in terms of what it will cost ultimately," he said.

Both Clunis and Sutherland said it would be worthwhile to study what other police departments have experienced before spending any money on the cameras.