LAKELAND - The remaining RCMP detachments in the Lakeland will soon be adding body-worn cameras to the standard equipment members respond to calls wearing. Bonnyville, Cold Lake, Elk Point, and Lac La Biche detachments are all scheduled to receive the cameras in January 2025.
According to Fraser Logan, the media relations manager for Alberta RCMP, the decision about which detachments would receive the body cameras was purely logistical.
“It really is dependent on each individual detachment, but it still goes back to ensuring that it's in the secured area, there's enough power, there's enough bandwidth, and there's enough space. They’re really kind of relatively boring details that need to be satisfied,” said Logan, noting there are more than 120 detachments in Alberta that will eventually be using the equipment as part of the planned modernization of the force.
Pilot project in St. Paul
St. Paul RCMP took part in a pilot project testing the cameras, beginning in February 2024.
Sgt. Andrew Druhan said the body worn cameras are a great tool to assist in investigations.
“I also think they will help support the public’s confidence in how we conduct our operations and interact with the public,” said Druhan.
Although the video evidence of police interactions does increase the work required to put together a disclosure package for court, according to St. Paul RCMP the feeling among the members is that “the value of what is being captured on the body cameras outweighs any extra work they may cause.”
According to Logan, even if no charges are laid but a person had an interaction with the police and wants to review the footage, they can go into the detachment and make that request.
“It's nothing that would ever be handed over to you like a copy. But you have standing as an individual, as a private citizen who is recorded, and you're able to review that,” said Logan.
Logan said the body cameras are also helpful during the public complaints process.
“Having that body worn camera footage has actually expedited how quickly these get resolved, for better or worse,” he said.
“At some point it’s just kind of he-said she-said, or it's one person's interpretation or their account of an event over another,” said Logan.
The body worn cameras will also be rolled out in Chestermere, Enoch Cree Nation, Fort Saskatchewan, Gleichen, Mayerthorpe, Sylvan Lake, and Whitecourt in January 2025.
RCMP in St. Paul, Lloydminster, Vulcan, Sherwood Park, Pincher Creek, Piikani First Nation, Nanton, Grande Prairie, Fort MacLeod, Evansburg, Drayton Valley, and Claresholm are already using the body-worn cameras.
