Police body camera pilot project deemed too small

Toronto Police have just begun a year-long pilot project to test the use of body cameras. But is the sample group of officers large enough?

Criminal defence lawyer Daniel Brown doesn't think so.

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He says while the news that about 100 officers will be wearing the cameras by the end of this month is a step in the right direction, he would like to see the program carried out on a bigger scale.

The pilot project involves officers from the TAVIS rapid response team, traffic services, and police divisions in Scarborough and downtown.

There have been several calls for police to use the cameras, in the wake of incidents such as the fatal shooting of Sammy Yatim on a streetcar nearly two years ago.

Brown, the Toronto director for the Criminal Lawyers' Association, is one of the people behind those calls.

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He told CBC Radio's Metro Morning the cameras increase transparency and "have been shown to reduce those types of violent interactions of kind we saw with Mr. Yatim."

If officers know all their interactions are being visually recorded, they may adjust the tone of their voice, the way they approach somebody, and "perhaps there is a bit of second sobre thought in the heat of the moment," Brown said.

"We've seen a lot of statistics that show that officers who wear body cameras are 60 per cent less likely to use violence when dealing with people they encounter on the streets.

The cameras aren't just there to protect citizens, but also the officers, from false allegations of mistreatment, misconduct and the violation of Charter rights.- Daniel Brown, Toronto director of Criminal Lawyers' Association

"Officers who aren't wearing those cameras are more than twice as likely to engage in some sort of use of force, and so when the police looked at their own use of force, Supreme Court Justice [Frank] Iacobucci recommended, in fact, that this is one of the things that could curtail that type of behaviour," Brown said.

In addition, he said, statistics have shown complaints against police are actually reduced when they wear body cameras.

"The cameras aren't just there to protect citizens, but also the officers, from false allegations of mistreatment, misconduct and the violation of Charter rights.

"Some studies have shown as high as an 88-per-cent decrease in complaints," Brown said.

The defence lawyer said while he's encourage by the pilot project, he would like to see all officers fitted with the cameras.

He fears such a small sample size might show inconclusive results, while he's confident a large sample will prove that the cameras are valuable for police and citizens.