CORNWALL, Ontario – Cornwall Police Service (CPS) Chief Danny Aikman gave a presentation to the Police Board on Thursday, Nov. 5 recommending that the service wait for now before considering introducing body cameras for their frontline officers.
One immediate hurdle to implementing body worn cameras for the CPS would be the cost. Aikman told the Board that if the CPS were to introduce body cameras for their frontline officers in 2021 it would cost $328,000 up front and then approximately $270,000 every year after that.
“Obviously a body worn camera is an unblinking eye. You have to balance the cost,” Aikman said.
The CPS has had 11 allegations of misconduct against one of its officers over the past year, with most if not all being dismissed according to Aikman.
Another cost for body cameras would be the digital storage, with Aikman estimating that it would require terabytes of digital storage space for all of the body camera footage. One terabyte is equal to 1,000,000 megabytes.
Chief Aikman also explained that there were privacy concerns around body cameras, and that any individual not subject to investigation by CPS would have to be digitally removed from any body camera footage according to the Canadian Privacy Commissioner.
Chief Aikman recommended to the Police Services Board that they wait and see how pilot programs for body cameras workout in other similar sized municipalities before they decide to implement them in Cornwall.
In 2014 Toronto ran a body camera pilot program for their service, and Guelph and Barrie announced pilot programs of their own this past summer.
