Fredericton police seek body-worn cameras for all front-line officers by 2023

The Fredericton Police Force wants body-worn cameras on every front-lineofficer by next year, but won't reveal the policy they'll follow around how they're used.

The force is hoping city councillors approve the spending of $60,000 in next year's capital budget to buy 48 additional body-worn cameras to add tothe 12 currently in use.

Police Chief Martin Gaudet, speaking at a recent public safety committee meeting, said that will ensurecameras for every front-line officer.

"It's a piece of kit that has to be individually provided to an officer," said Gaudet.

"It's about evidence digital evidence and it's about quality audits, and making sure that that evidence is assigned to me when it's captured under my camera, whether it be at a crime scene or a motor vehicle stop."

CBC News asked for the operational policy officers follow onhow to use body-worn cameras.

In an email, spokesperson Sonya Gilks said the Fredericton Police Force does havean operational policy, "but it's internal."

She did say the purpose of the policy is to ensure the camerasare used properly to "gain the maximum benefit from their operational use."

Gilks also said all staff who use the equipmentor access the images must comply with theRight to Information and Protection of Privacy Actand the New Brunswick Police Act."

The objectives of using body-worn camerasinclude improving evidence collection and documentation, she said, and reducing use of force incidents by and against officers by affecting the behaviour of individuals who are aware of the recording.

The hope is also that they increase transparency, accountability and public trust and confidence in the Fredericton police, Gilkssaid.

Policy on use should be public, says expert

Body-worn cameras on their own won't serve to enhance police accountability, said Brenda McPhail, director of the privacy, technology and surveillance program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

Rather, their effectiveness comes down to having policy in place to prevent them being inconsistently or improperly used, she said, adding the policy should be made public.

"So there are issues there too around who controls the camera, what the policy is in terms of whether or not officers have discretion to turn it on and off, and then how that evidence plays out in court and what credibility is given to it," McPhail said.

McPhail said otherimportant policy considerations include whetherofficers are required to inform citizens when they're being recorded, and the rights citizens have around requesting access to footage they were captured in, or that the cameras be turned off when an officer is in a private residence.

"There should be sort of a thought process that goes into thinking when can a camera be turned off at the request particularly of a victim, and when they must stay on, and where does the decision on that vest? And it shouldn't vest exclusively with individual officers."

Benefit of body-worn cameras unclear

Body-worn cameras havebeen adopted by police departments across New Brunswick and the rest of North America in recent years, with officials touting how they'llassist with evidence gatheringand add an extra layer of accountability for officers' actions.

However, the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this year said it was unclear whether the use of body-cameras haveactually achieved what police forces hoped they would.

In a Jan.7 report, the department's National Institute of Justice said the main reasons police forces had acquired body-worn cameras were to improve officer safety, increase evidence quality, reduce civilian complaints and reduce agency liability.

"Research does not necessarily support the effectiveness of body-worn cameras in achieving those desired outcomes," the institute said.

"A comprehensive review of 70 studies of body-worn cameras use found that the larger body of research on body-worn cameras showed no consistent or no statistically significant effects."

One of the more promising roll-outs of body-worn cameras was in Birmingham, U.K.,where a "statistically significant reduction" in citizen injury was observed, but no statistically significant reduction in officer use of force or injury.

In a less promising example of their effect, evaluators found that the use of body-worn cameras by police in Washington, D.C., resulted in no statistically significant differences in police use of force, nor the number of citizen complaints.

Approved in principle

Fredericton police announced in fall 2019 that they were using five body cameras as part of a pilot projectthat uses them to link officers in the field with mental health professionals better skilled at intervening in mental health crises.

In spring 2020 they bought another seven cameras, and now the 2023 capital budget, which was approved in principle by councillors last month, would see $61,262 spent on the 48 new cameras.

Councillorsstill have to give final approval for the budget at another meeting later this month.