Manitoba RCMP to wear body cameras for ‘accountability and transparency’

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New body-worn cameras will bring a new level of accountability to Manitoba RCMP officers, Mounties said.

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“Communities have been asking for more accountability and transparency in policing,” Manitoba RCMP Assistant Commissioner Scott McMurchy told reporters at a media conference in Winnipeg on Wednesday.

“We are very pleased to say that RCMP has listened, and is deploying body-worn cameras throughout Manitoba.”

According to McMurchy, body-worn camera technology will now be rolled out in phases at Manitoba detachments. Steinbach RCMP will be the first RCMP detachment in the province to begin wearing the cameras, beginning Friday.

Between now and the end of January, detachments in Portage la Prairie, East St. Paul, Amaranth, Treherne, Grand Marais, Selkirk, and St-Pierre-Jolys will have all officers equipped with the cameras, according to RCMP, and between now and April, over 490 Manitoba RCMP officers in 44 detachments are expected to begin wearing them.

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On Wednesday reporters got their first glimpse of the new cameras, which will be worn near the centre of officers’ chests and will flash red when they are recording and green when they are not.

Once officers are equipped with the technology, they will be expected to follow a set of guidelines, as officers must activate their cameras whenever they approach a vehicle or come into contact with a member of the public “for the purpose of a police investigation.”

Police must also have the cameras running whenever they record statements taken in the field or interact with a person in custody.

“It truly demonstrates our commitment to enhancing the trust between the Manitoba RCMP, and the communities we so proudly serve throughout the province,” McMurchy said.

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Police added cameras will not be used during strip searches, or in areas where there is a “high expectation” of privacy, which could include washrooms, hospitals, treatment centres and places of worship.

Officers will be provided with policy and training on the use of the cameras before they begin using them.

When the cameras are not recording, police said they will buffer every 30 seconds so that once a recording is started, it will automatically include the 30 seconds before the camera was turned on.

Axon Public Safety Canada Inc. is the contractor that will supply the RCMP with the body-worn cameras, and with what is being called a “digital evidence management system” that will see all audio and video captured on body-worn cameras uploaded and maintained on a server.

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McMurchy added RCMP have faith in the security of the technology they will use, and believe there is very little chance of a hack or breach of the system.

He added the technology will make it so that officers cannot manipulate video or audio taken from the cameras.

The rollout comes as part of a national strategy, as RCMP said that as of Nov. 18, frontline RCMP officers at select detachments across Canada will wear body-worn cameras.

“Over the next nine months, approximately 1,000 frontline RCMP officers, per month, will begin using body-worn cameras and the digital evidence management system,” says a Nov. 14 press release from RCMP National Headquarters.

“By this time next year, 90% of frontline members will be using body-worn cameras and full deployment will be complete in the next 12-18 months.”

— Dave Baxter is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

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