Some Maritime police departments are experimenting with body cameras, so officers can videotape encounters with the public.
Cpl. Tom White of the Rothesay Regional Police says his gear now includes a wireless camera that could easily go unnoticed.
“You just open it up and once you open it up it begins to record and it will record up to four hours,” says White.
The camera doesn’t record continuously while White is on patrol, but he says it is in frequent use.
“We would typically turn the camera on in any type of situation that might turn into something that’s evidentiary,” says White.
“A domestic dispute, a loud party, those types of situations or when an officer might be at risk.”
As more police departments experiment with body cams, concerns about privacy – both of the officer and of the people the officer is dealing with - have been raised, along with questions about the security of the video itself.
“If there are strong protocols in place to protect the integrity of that recording so that it doesn’t end up on YouTube or Facebook, and is only used to for legitimate purposes in investigations of complaints or criminal matters, and it is scrubbed when no longer needed, then those types of privacy issues tend to be minimized,” says Mary Ann Campbell, chair of the Centre for Criminal Justice at the University of New Brunswick.
In addition to providing evidence, body cam videos could also verify complaints against the police.
“Hopefully it will always be favourable, but there are situations when maybe the officer has done something that was inappropriate,” says Dept. Chief Steve Palmer of the Rothesay Regional Police.
“We’re very confident in our members. We believe that will be rare, if ever.”
The body cam is still relatively new in the Maritimes, and video has yet to be used in court, but police say it is inevitable and could eventually be used by the prosecution or defence.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Mike Cameron
