Every Mountie on street patrol should have a security camera installed on his or her uniform, according to a group of Liberal senators who today released a position paper on the future of the RCMP.
"I think the benefits will outweigh the costs," Senator Colin Kenny, the paper's lead author, said in an interview. He added that technology now exists that could make the devices – that would document just about everything a cop does – relatively cheap and ubiquitous.
While it's common for some police forces to place videocameras on dashboards of squad cars, installing cameras on individual officers is an exceedingly rare step. The hope of the move would be to help police gather evidence, while insulating them against allegations of wrongful arrest. The videocameras would also document any police missteps.
The 102-page report, Toward a Red Serge Revival, was made public in Ottawa this morning by Liberal members of the Senate security committee. The prorogation of Parliament halted work on an earlier draft paper, on which the committee had so far failed to reach a consensus.
Vancouver's police department has mused about installing cameras on officers within the next few years, but has yet to launch a pilot project. The San Jose Police Department claims to be the first major North American jurisdiciton to pioneer the use of cameras for individual police officers.
In a pilot program starting last December, 18 police officers began wearing earpieces rigged with video capabilities that turn on when officers encounter members of the public. So far, the test run is a success, Jermaine Thomas of the San Jose police said. "The officers state that people are acting differently because they know they are on camera," he said.
Officer Thomas said the police cameras are an initiative of Taser International, Inc. – the same company whose electric stun guns have figured in a number of prisoner-death controversies. "They approached our chief and our chief signed onto it," he said.
