Police body cams unlikely in Regina anytime soon

With the recent comments from Regina’s police chief and mayor around body-worn cameras for police officers, it seems unlikely a program will be implemented in the Queen City anytime soon.

Chief Evan Bray recently presented a report to the Board of Police Commissioners about police accountability. The report had been requested by Regina city council during a discussion on body-worn cameras to see what accountability measures are currently in place for police.

The report pointed to things like in-car cameras – front- and rear-facing – and GPS in the radios officers carry with them.

“So we can always show, at any given time, where officers were, where they weren’t, how long they were in a location, all of those things,” said Bray.

There are also provincial oversight bodies like the Public Complaints Commission.

“I do think, sincerely, that policing in Canada is one of the most highly regulated and … there’s high levels of oversight that occur,” said Bray.

“And we welcome that. In fact, I think it’s that level of oversight that allows us to continually prove and show to the community the good work that we do and the high level of accountability that we have to the public.”

But with all of that oversight already in place, Bray said it becomes a discussion of the cost and benefit.

“Knowing that we have all these other accountability mechanisms, do we feel that the benefit from body-work cameras is enough that the investment and the time and resources we’re going to put into it is worth it?” said Bray.

That will be part of the discussion in the future, according to Bray, though the chief said he didn’t know if he would give a recommendation either way.

In a report given to Board of Police Commissioners last year, the initial cost for body-worn cameras would be about $800,000 for cameras for 300 front-line staff. The operating cost was put at just under $1.3 million for storage and maintenance costs as well as three new employees.

“We need to have a thoughtful discussion around this. We’re ultimately deciding how we’re spending taxpayers’ dollars, and at a time where budgets are heavily scrutinized, we need to make sure we’re making a decision that’s in the best interests of our city and of something that is needed and is a valuable add to our service,” said Bray.

Saskatoon’s police service is in the middle of a pilot project around body cams. Bray said he has spoken to the police chief there who said it’s going well.

“It has predominantly been effective in showing the work that their officers are doing and dispelling or negating complaints that come in,” said Bray.

Bray also relayed that the cost for the project has been higher than was expected and police have had to go to city council to change the funding arrangement.

“That’s the thing with a program like that. You can go in with your eyes open thinking you know the cost, but oftentimes there’s volume of storage and other hidden costs you weren’t anticipating. So that’s why I think we need to make an informed decision as we step in that direction,” he explained.

Bray said the in-car cameras that are currently set up in 87 vehicles, nearly the whole police fleet, have been very effective for the service. Given that, Bray said body cams would – no question – be useful as well, but it came back to cost.

“If we as a police service could see the video that our officers are seeing each and every day on every call they go on, it absolutely would help us understand those calls (and) it would give us better clarity. But you have to weigh the cost benefit of that,” said Bray.

Mayor Sandra Masters, who’s on the Board of Police Commissioners, also didn’t seem as though she was champing at the bit for body cams.

Masters pointed to the approximately 100 complaints that come against the Regina Police Service every year out of thousands of interactions with the public.

“In some respects it would appear hard to justify millions of dollars for a hundred complaints,” said Masters.

“We know that we’re under-resourced from an officer perspective, we know that our patrol officers have some of the highest caseloads in the country, and so it’s hard to justify (millions of dollars) on body cams when we’re under-resourced from a personnel perspective.”

When the pilot project is finished in Saskatoon, Masters said the board will likely ask for a presentation in Regina on the results. But she said the subject will likely be annually reviewed, coming back every year to ask if the time is right at that point to do it.