Body cameras for NPD? Good idea, but they come with a cost
By Suzy Hamilton
Nelson Police Department are considering the use of personal body cameras.
But they come with a cost, says NPD chief Wayne Holland.
“Is there a need for them in Nelson? Not necessarily,” he said. “Nelson (police) has the lowest per capita complaints in the province.”
But the chiefs and the police association are in favour of them because they cut down on complaints, and thus court time, and wearing the device lessens the chance that officers are assaulted, he said.
Holland believes the devices will be mandated in the near future.
The costly part is not the device, which usually costs anywhere from $200 to $500.
“Each one of the devices is operating 24 hours every time an officer wears one. That’s hundreds of thousands of dollars of data being collected a year.”
The cost of retention and transcription for court is what adds up, he said. “It’s a really good idea but it comes at an astronomical cost.”
Holland said that in 98 percent of the complaints, Nelson police have been exonerated in the four years he has been here.
But the number of assaults on police officers per year are in the “double digits.”
The most important consideration in the use of “body mikes” is that all policing agencies province wide use the same system. Test pilots have indicated that if each agency uses a different system, “it ends up in a nightmare.”
“If we do this, we want to be ahead of the curve. But I pray we all do it in a uniform manner.”
Presently the police department monitors external cameras located on valuable city works such as the water system, graveyard and dam sites.
However the camera proposed for Ward Street at the bus stop has not materialized.
Holland said he was asked by the former mayor, John Dooley, to prepare a response to the viability of a CCTV camera in the new year, although council in the past had voted against the use of the community cameras.
“It can be an invaluable tool in heightening the sense of risk,” he said. “Not only can you be seen in real time, and the police dispatched, but you have a recording of the event.”
But whether or not to install such a system is not in the purview of the police but would come from council, he said.
So far, the new chair of the board, Mayor Deb Kozak, has not pursued the issue, he said.
“Breach of confidentiality is the issue for many communities.”
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