(Photo credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns)

By Kenneth Cheung

BODY-WORN CAMERAS

RCMP body cameras aim to build trust, but expert says can be “problematic”

Jan 17, 2025 | 5:00 PM

Police promote body-worn cameras as a way to gather evidence and improve public trust and transparency; however, a police studies expert believes that their use could be “problematic.”

“Subsequent studies have shown that despite body-worn cameras in the U.S., it hasn’t significantly reduced the misbehaviour on the part of the police,” said Dr. Amin Asfari, Law Foundation of Saskatchewan Chair in Police Studies in the Justice Studies Department at the University of Regina

He previously worked as an associate professor at Regis University in Denver, Colorado, U.S.

In many instances where conduct was questioned, he noted that police in the U.S. reported that either the body camera was not activated correctly or the footage was missing.

Asfari believes these types of situations, whether true or not, could raise concerns about the reliability of the footage as officers begin to use the cameras.

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In November 2024, RCMP began implementing body cameras, starting with Fort Qu’Appelle in Saskatchewan and expanding to communities like Black Lake, Fond du Lac, and Punnichy over the next eight to 12 months.

Battlefords detachments will also have their turn early this year. Officers are expected to turn the camera on when they come across anyone or respond to calls.

RCMP did say that body-worn cameras will not be used for surveillance, continuous recordings, or in high-privacy areas like washrooms and hospitals, nor during strip or internal cavity searches.

“It’s not a fix-all. It’s not going to solve everything. It’s just another tool that can be used, and I think it will be very good for accountability,” said Jesse Gilbert, the (former) commander of Battlefords RCMP detachment.

Understanding that the force’s intention is to build trust and be transparent, Asfari noted that the reality is much more complicated.

“There’s no conclusive evidence to suggest that [body cameras] work that well or that differently than bringing in a crime scene investigator who can do just as good a job by taking footage.”

He noted that while real-time footage makes it more challenging to manipulate and conceal evidence, it also relies on the policies that police officers must follow.

“In other words, do they have a lot of discretion in turning on the body camera or not? The more discretion they have, the more problematic the results will be,” he said.

A body camera worn by an RCMP officer during the chase and capture of the suspect in the James Smith Cree Nation mass stabbings enabled police and attendees at Myles Sanderson’s inquest to see how Sanderson died.

The video clearly shows Sanderson dying of what turned out to be a heart incident aggravated by extreme cocaine use.

READ MORE: RCMP cleared of wrongdoing in Myles Sanderson overdose death

The RCMP trains officers to develop the muscle memory of “seatbelt off, camera on,” meaning they should activate the camera when leaving the car to respond to a call. While Asfari thinks this practice can reassure the public, he questions, “What if the officer doesn’t do that?”

“What are the mechanisms that compel officers to follow the rules? We would like to think that most officers will follow the rules, and that’s probably true, but we have to account for those instances where they don’t,” he added.

Regarding this matter, the RCMP stated that officers who fail to follow policies may face internal discipline, as guided by the Code of Conduct. In rare cases, the matter may be referred for criminal investigation.

“Let’s say one of the accusations is that ‘Well, this happened, but the video is deleted,’ that’s a breach of policy. So if those situations are happening, then those members could be subject to a code of conduct investigation,” Gilbert added

Even though consequences are in place, he cited the situation in the United States, where police tend to receive no punishment.

“In the American context, there’s so much ingrained distrust between those communities that are over-policed and when the leadership in policing say ‘trust us, there’s a punishment,’ when there had been time and time again no punishment for officers engaging in the most egregious act, to include the killing of unarmed suspects,” he noted.

“Time and time again, those words hold very little meaning.”

As body camera programs continue to roll out, he stresses the need for more Canadian-specific studies to understand the unique context and inform evidence-based policies that can truly achieve the trust and transparency police seek.

“It’s a very complex issue, and it needs to be historicized in a way that I think is now happening in some spaces,” Asfari noted.

Prince Albert, Melfort and La Ronge detachments will be included in the continuing roll-out to Saskatchewan RCMP detachments. All detachments are scheduled to be on-boarded by the end of October.

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com