Edmonton Police Service begins rollout of body-worn cameras
35 of the 280 officers were involved in pilot project, police say
Const. Simeon Howarth, donning his uniform in a conference room, pressed his fingers against a device clipped to the front of his protective vest. A couple of beeps rang through the room and a red light started to blink: the camera was recording.
Howarth, a member of the Edmonton Police Service's transit community safety teams, has worn a body camera for more than a year as part of a pilot project.
He demonstrated the device to media members Friday, as the service announced it has started issuing the cameras to more officers throughout its ranks.
"The goals of the body-worn cameras are multifaceted," said Darren Derko, deputy chief of the EPS community policing bureau. "But overall, they aim to create a more efficient accountability process and reduce use-of-force incidents for both officers and the public."
The Alberta government announced in March 2023 that body-worn cameras would become mandatory for all police officers in Alberta.
On Monday, EPS started issuing cameras to 280 officers in various units, although that includes Howarth and 34 other officers who started wearing them for a pilot project in July 2023, EPS said in a news release Friday.
The officers will be trained and start wearing the cameras over the next "several months," the release said. EPS expects remaining "public-facing" units to get cameras in the coming year, depending on budget.
"There was a little bit of a learning curve for this, but it's pretty straightforward once you go through the training for it," Howarth told reporters.
Recently, Edmonton police had not been filming interactions through body cameras or dashboard cameras. Police Chief Dale McFee previously said that the service did not have the resources to do both, so it had to prioritize body cameras.
Derko said the service is not totally abandoning dash cameras. Systems being implemented for the body cameras, such as to download video files, will be needed for dash cameras as well, he said.
"The two will actually complement one another, but for now [dash cameras are] on hold while we implement this," he said.
The cameras, developed by Axon, the company that created the Taser, will be passively recording throughout an officer's shift, Derko said. When an officer pushes the record button, the camera's image becomes sharper and it starts recording audio.
Officers are encouraged to record their public interactions in the field, especially if it pertains to enforcement or investigation, Derko said. Ultimately, it is their choice to turn on the camera, but there could be discipline if an incident occurs that they should have recorded and did not.
Howarth, while demonstrating his camera, noted that if an Axon-brand Taser is used, the cameras within the vicinity automatically start recording. Loud noises, like a gunshot, can also initiate a recording, he said.
At the end of an officer's shift, they will dock the camera so it can charge. The footage is automatically uploaded to a secure server and cannot be altered or deleted. Footage is logged and submitted for evidence, if Crown prosecutors lay charges.
Footage offers transparency for both sides
EPS has "lagged completely behind the times" when it has come to cameras, said Tom Engel, chair of the Criminal Trial Lawyers' Association's policing committee.
Police forces in other Canadian cities, such as Calgary, Saskatoon and Toronto, have already embedded body cameras in their ranks.
Engel noted that units, such as the tactical team, that are more likely to have to use force on duty, did not receive cameras in the initial rollout. But he agreed that the cameras could help with transparency.
"If a person is alleging police misconduct, then it's going to be very helpful," he said.
Christopher Schneider, a sociology professor at Brandon University in Manitoba, is split on whether the body cameras will work, as available evidence suggests the results have been mixed.
Most researchers have tested whether cameras reduce police use of force, or whether they reduce civilian complaints, Schneider explained. Some research has yielded positive results, but other research has not.
"Just because there's a recording there, doesn't mean that it's going to deter bad behaviour, either by police officers or by citizens. But that's largely the prevailing belief that people have about the devices," Schneider said.
Freedom of information legislation is also stricter in Canada than in, say, the United States, he said. So from a transparency perspective, the EPS footage could be hard for the public to access.
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With files from Emmanuel Prince-Thauvette