Vancouver mayor, councillors want body cameras for all VPD officers by 2025
On Tuesday, Vancouver’s new mayor and council will vote on a motion that would see every front-line VPD officer outfitted with a body-worn camera by the year 2025.
Coun. Lenny Zhou, with ABC Vancouver, is bringing the motion which will direct staff to begin costing out the cameras and data storage, and to return with a budget for the project by early 2024.
Body-worn cameras for Vancouver Police was an election campaign promise by Mayor Ken Sim's party that Zhou says the public supports, and he believes front-line officers will too.
“Chief Adam Palmer has advocated many, many times regarding the benefit of using the body-worn cameras,” said Zhou, who is concerned the only video the public can currently see of police interacting with suspects comes from bystanders’ cell phones.
“That’s exactly what’s important, to have a complete picture by the body-worn camera, and not the picture captured by very short clips of the incident,” he added.
Former West Vancouver Police Department chief Kash Heed agrees.
“In the day and age we are in right now, with all the interactions police have, with all the negative publicity police are garnering over any use of force – how could they not embrace something like this? Other organizations are doing it, we need to do it here in Vancouver,” said Heed.
Vancouver Police Department spokesperson, Const. Tania Visintin, says it’s something the force has looked into before.
“It’s always been a cost-prohibitive issue due to technology, data storage and what not,” she said.
As part of its first budget, the new council is also expected to fund a $200,000 pilot project on body-worn cameras for VPD officers. Visintin says a working group has been formed to look at concerns around cost and privacy.
“We are going to work with the Crown on issues around the privacy concern, and having people that aren’t criminals be on film. So there are still some kinks that need to be worked out, and that’s something that this working group will do in the pilot project,” she said.
Zhou is confident those kinks can and will be worked out.
“So many other countries have implemented this already,” Zhou said.
And he claims it’s been a huge success, pointing to a study out of California that found body-worn cameras led to an 88 per cent decrease in complaints against police officers.
“At the same time, the incidents of use of force by police deceased by 59 per cent, so this is the evidence-based approach we have been advocating for,” Zhou said.
Assuming the ABC-majority council approves the motion and the pilot project, some officers may be outfitted with body cameras in 2023. But it will likely be several years before they are standard issue with every VPD uniform.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with big bipartisan vote
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
Wildfire southwest of Peace River spurs evacuation order
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Train derailed in Sarnia after colliding with a truck
Police are investigating after a transport truck collided with a train in Sarnia.
Fewer medical students going into family medicine contributing to doctor shortage
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.