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Police in Thunder Bay will test cameras mounted on the bodies of some officers over the next few months.
Six officers from the police traffic unit will take part in the pilot project, which will officially begin on Tuesday, November 13, the traffic police sergeant said. Gordon Snyder.
"I think it's a very good project," he said. "Our traffic unit officers are very supportive of this and want their daily tasks and interactions with the public to be recorded."
"They can not wait to start the project."
The cameras themselves can be worn in many ways, said Snyder, especially on the side of the caps or glbades.
"Whatever they watch, the camera will also capture," he said. "From the point of view of traffic, if they are at an intersection … looking in a vehicle next to them and if someone is on the phone or has a cell phone at the hand, the camera will also capture this evidence. "
Snyder said the cameras also work on a 30-second loop. So, when an officer presses the record button, the saved recording starts 30 seconds before.
"What is useful is in situations where, obviously, they observe that an offense is being perpetrated before their eyes," Snyder said. "They press the record button and the offense is actually captured on video at that time."
Thunder Bay Police Const. Michael Dimini shows the video stream captured Thursday by an onboard camera. (Kris Ketonen / CBC)
Snyder said the agents turned on the cameras whenever they were dealing with the public, in a public area. This includes, for example, answering calls or stops.
Snyder said technology advances have pushed Thunder Bay police to try the cameras. In the past, managing the "mbadive" amount of data captured by body-mounted cameras was a concern, but now it's much easier and more economical.
"Now all this data is being downloaded to a secure cloud," Snyder said. "This data can then be more easily disclosed through the court process at the Crown Attorney's Office, without the agents having to burn CDs or DVDs to submit them."
Snyder said the cameras would improve the agents' ability to gather evidence.
Improve transparency and public trust
"At the same time, it also enhances transparency and public confidence in our police services," he said. "We show what we do, we are responsible for our actions and it also allows … to resolve much more quickly situations in which allegations are made against the police."
Snyder said that privacy is also a consideration.
"The police are collecting a lot of information, even before anything related to the cameras worn by the body," he said. "It's not different."
"We have put in place a process that complies with Ontario's privacy legislation, and this process will not change."
The police will also test embedded cameras in three cruisers. Snyder said that they would begin to be used in the coming weeks.
The pilot project will not cost police services because the manufacturer provides the cameras free of charge for the duration of the operation, said Snyder.
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