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
'A beautiful soul': Funeral held for baby boy killed in wrong-way crash on Highway 401
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
'Sophisticated' cyberattacks detected on B.C. government networks, premier says
There has been a "sophisticated" cybersecurity breach detected on B.C. government networks, Premier David Eby confirmed Wednesday evening.
Police handcuff man trying to enter Drake's Toronto mansion
Toronto police say a man was taken into custody outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion Wednesday afternoon after he tried to gain access to the residence.
Biden says he will stop sending bombs and artillery shells to Israel if they launch major invasion of Rafah
U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
Canucks claw out 5-4 comeback win over Oilers in Game 1
Dakota Joshua had a goal and two assists and the Vancouver Canucks scored three third-period goals to claw out a 5-4 comeback victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series Wednesday.
Nijjar murder suspect says he had Canadian study permit in immigration firm's video
One of the Indian nationals accused of murdering British Columbia Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar says in a social media video that he received a Canadian study permit with the help of an Indian immigration consultancy.
Pfizer agrees to settle more than 10K lawsuits over Zantac cancer risk: Bloomberg News
Pfizer has agreed to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits about cancer risks related to the now discontinued heartburn drug Zantac, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal.
Quebec premier defends new museum on Quebecois nation after Indigenous criticism
Quebec Premier Francois Legault is defending his comments about a new history museum after he was accused by a prominent First Nations group of trying to erase their history.
U.S. presidential candidate RFK Jr. had a brain worm, has recovered, campaign says
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, but has fully recovered, his campaign said, after the New York Times reported about the ailment.