Sask. RCMP begin body cam rollout, but civil rights lawyer says devices let police control the message

Alec Karakatsanis says body cameras are "one of the most dangerous developments in modern policing."

"It captures what the police perspective is, but also the police control when that footage is released, how it's released, how it's edited, what context it's released into, so they can control the virality," said Karakatsanis, who is based in Washington, D.C., founded the non-profit Civil Rights Corps, and has spent 10 years researching and studying police and body cameras.

The RCMP is rolling out body cams across Canada. Saskatchewan got its first taste Tuesday as officers in Fort Qu'Appelle donned the technology. Other communities like Black Lake, Fond du Lac, Pelican Narrows, Onion Lake and Punnichy are next, with the rest of province's detachments to follow in the next eight to 12 months.

Officers are expected to turn their cameras on in situations where they come into contact with someone or to record statements.

WATCH | Sask. RCMP start rolling out body cameras: 

Sask. RCMP start rolling out body cameras

7 days ago

Duration 2:00

Opinions diverge on the use of police body cameras as RCMP in Saskatchewan started rolling out the technology Tuesday.

RCMP say the cameras will provide accountability and transparency, but also be useful for recording details during investigations.

"As we continue to modernize as Saskatchewan's provincial police service, body-worn cameras will have a role in our ongoing trust-building with the communities and people we serve," Rhonda Blackmore, commanding officer of the RCMP in Saskatchewan, said in a news release.

"Body-worn cameras are one more tool we can use as police officers in our daily duties and in being accountable to the public."

But Karakatsanis said body cams are another way for police to control the message.

"If there's a particularly egregious incident, they can prevent it from being released at all, but if there's an incident they want to use for propaganda purposes, they can release it right away."

He said police could also use the cameras to record anyone gathering in public for events like protests, then eventually use artificial intelligence and face recognition technology to identify anyone present.

"Everybody in the policing world understands that the purpose of police body cameras is surveillance and power."

RCMP say they have a policy forbidding the use of body-worn video for biometric analysis, including facial recognition, and for surveillance or covert recording.

The RCMP said the footage taken by body cams will only be released to the public "on an exceptional basis" because of privacy laws in Canada.

RCMP Supt. Murray Chamberlin told CBC that civilians who interact with officers would have to request the body cam footage through an access to information request in most circumstances.

RCMP say all footage will be retained in the system in its original form, but that individual police officers will have ability to redact copies of videos for disclosure purposes.

Bob Hughes, an advocate with Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism, said the body cams won't be a silver bullet for transparency.

"It can be a positive step, but I think it can lead to further distrust by [the] community for sure. If what is filmed is kept from the public, it doesn't really move things forward at all," Hughes said. "It might be seen as more of a protection for police."

'What ifs'

Dez Standingready wishes the officer who shot and killed his brother had been wearing a camera. 

Standingready's brother was killed by RCMP on White Bear First Nation. An inquest jury found his death by RCMP shooting to be a form of suicide, but Standingready said he still doesn't have closure on what happened exactly.

"For me [body cams] would provide accountability to a lot of the families that have questions and the 'what ifs' of the situation that the RCMP responded to, and how it was handled," he said.

Standingready wants to know exactly how the officers were using their voices, or what tactics were used to de-escalate the situation.

"There are so many questions in my mind that I think the body cams at the time would have answered for me," he said.

Christopher Schneider, a professor of sociology at Brandon University, said there are two essential questions to consider around the devices: Does the presence of the cameras reduce police use of force? And does the presence of the cameras reduce civilian complaints about police? 

"The research findings are inconsistent. Sometimes both of these things go down," Schneider said on CBC's The Morning Edition with host Stefani Langenegger.

"Other times there's no difference one way or the other, and there's been some research that's found even with body-worn cameras on, police use of force has gone up."

The Morning Edition - Sask6:50Sask. RCMP to add body cameras to standard uniform

The Saskatchewan RCMP will start the roll-out of body-worn cameras, which is taking place nationally and costing nearly 240 million. But do body cams work to create more police accountability? We speak to a researcher who has examined the studies and says the money could be better spent.