Around 100 front-line Vancouver police officers to wear body cameras in pilot project

The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) says it will equip a group of officers with body cameras to enhance transparency and accountability for a trial period starting this fall.

The announcement of the pilot project, detailed in a report to the Vancouver Police Board, comes a month after a B.C. Coroners Service inquest into the beating death of a man from the Sunshine Coast in 2015 recommended the force implement the technology.

Myles Gray was 33 when a violent confrontation with several police officers on the Vancouver-Burnaby border ended in his death.

In May, the inquest's findings deemed his death a homicide and made three recommendations, which included two for the VPD.

One was to expedite the implementation of the use of body-worn cameras (BWC) with the ability to record audio for all patrol officers; the other was the review and enhance crisis de-escalation and containment training.

A central issue in the Myles Gray inquest was the lack of witnesses who saw what happened between him and the officers involved in his death in a Burnaby backyard.

"The VPD supports these recommendations and is committed to implementing them," reads the report, which will be presented to the police board at 1 p.m. Thursday.

The force says the VPD BWC Pilot Project will be launched this fall and run for six months.

Around 100 uniformed officers from its patrol and traffic sections will wear the cameras, which will be able to record video and audio.

The VPD currently has a request for proposal out to obtain the equipment for the pilot project, which closes June 19.

Independent Investigations Office (IIO) chief civilian director Ronald MacDonald said the agency will have a full-time staff member dedicated to analyzing BWC footage.

"The bottom line is we can save probably a lot of time and many investigations with additional video evidence," MacDonald said.

Cameras first considered in 2009

The report said VPD has been exploring the feasibility of BWCs since 2009.

In 2014, it submitted a report to the board detailing their benefits, but also concerns over managing the technology and privacy issues over what they could document.

That report said a pilot project was being contemplated for mid-2014 following the completion of a similar pilot by the Edmonton Police Service, which ended in mid-July 2014.

In March, the Alberta government announced that BWCs would be made mandatory for all police officers in that province.

In a statement to CBC News Wednesday, Sgt. Steve Addison said the cost to purchase and maintain equipment, as well as challenges surrounding data storage, had made cameras cost-prohibitive.

Full roll-out planned

In July 2021, the force recommended the province implement the use of BWCs through provincial laws. In November 2022, VPD formed a committee to specifically look at the issue. In December, Vancouver City Council approved $200,000 in funding for the pilot project, which will comply with B.C. provincial policing standards.

Over the course of the pilot project, the VPD said, it will review users' experiences, consult with community representatives over their use and then conduct an assessment "to ensure compliance with standards and policies, establish best practices with regards to training, and develop a full deployment plan for BWCs."

The force said the overall plan is to secure funding and implement BWCs for all frontline officers.

The report to the police board also addresses and details several de-escalation and containment training programs that have been implemented within the force over the past 10 years.

"The VPD will continue to deliver leading-edge training on crisis de-escalation and containment through a blended approach," said the report in response to the recommendation from the Gray inquest.

'Serious limitations' 

Meenakshi Mannoe, criminalization and policing campaigner at Pivot Legal Society, says there are "serious limitations" to what body cam footage can offer and doesn't believe cameras alone will enhance police accountability. 

"The use of that technology would still fall within policing standards on a Police Act that provides far too much protection to police themselves, whether in administrative or criminal proceedings," Mannoe said.

Mannoe also noted that while BWCs could be a useful tool for investigating agencies such as the IIO, they won't necessarily prevent or stop violent and potentially fatal encounters with police.