As policing operations come under increasing scrutiny, the Department of Public Safety is outlining the ideal conditions for the use of handheld cameras within Quebec police forces.
Although this technology is widespread in the United States, it is much less common in Canada and Quebec. However, the province of La Belle had proposed pilot projects with the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) and the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) to test their effectiveness.
The Ministry of Public Security report contains 16 recommendations, hence these:
-Introduced consistent and consistent governance rules across Quebec.
– Decide on a progressive plan over time.
– Set a selection of events that justify activating the camera.
-Create a national video processing center.
At the time of the first assessment, the results of the bodycam program are rather mixed.
The SPVM was not able to prove that these cameras promote transparency or increase the population’s trust in the police.
As for the SQ, the results are still preliminary, but they tend to suggest that the impact is positive, particularly to prevent citizens from abusing police officers.
According to former police officer and professor of police engineering Alain Gelly, the introduction of body cameras is an important initiative.
“I think the body camera approach will make the police’s job easier and allow for greater transparency in terms of the actions being taken in dealing with all sorts of situations and people,” he said.
The professor of police techniques believes that body cameras will provide a better understanding of the problems faced by police officers.
“I think it will be much easier for everyone to understand what we are doing, the requirements, powers and obligations and society will certainly benefit from that,” Mr Gelly added.
Retired SPVQ investigator Roger Ferland also welcomes the installation of body cameras.
“To show that the police are professional, that they respect the law, that they use force appropriately, I think it would be extremely useful to have them,” he argues.
One of the aims of the process is to strengthen the population’s trust in police interventions. But equipping all of Quebec’s police forces could cost as much as $211 million annually.
“There are other tools that we should use that might be less expensive, if only to use cameras on vehicles in certain cases. The goal we’re aiming for with that, I’m not sure we’re going to achieve it by giving everyone body cameras,” frets Mr. Ferland.
While some stakeholders offer nuance, citizen sentiment on the provincial rollout of wearable cameras is unequivocal.
“We were able to see the real things because a lot of people want to take their phone and filter it beforehand because they don’t want to,” says one man.
“He protects the police and he also protects the citizen if he has nothing to be ashamed of,” notes a second man.
“It’s a good thing to film the interventions and everything to find out what’s really happening, to find out if there’s no aggression, no abuse of power,” concludes a third citizen.
The government has still not given any guidance after the report was published.
If the political will is there, several factors need to be considered to ensure consistent deployment of the technology across the province.