Police survey focuses on the camera question

Should Port Moody cops be outfitted with body cameras?

That question is at the centre of a survey designed to help the agency: “make more informed decisions about where and how to use our resources,” according to a statement from Port Moody Police Department.

Along with questions about the department’s performance, direct experience with the PMPD and personal sense of safety, the survey asks if officers wearing body cameras would increase trust between police and the public.

The survey also asks residents if they would prefer to deal with an officer wearing a camera.

The survey is set to close Feb. 29. The results are slated to be made public and to help shape the department’s 2024-26 strategic plan. Anyone who lives or works in Port Moody is invited to participate.

Citing the high cost of the equipment, the department has previously been reticent about prioritizing body-worn cameras.

In 2021, following widespread calls for greater police accountability, the RCMP announced plans to distribute approximately 10,000 to 15,000 cameras to detachment across Canada over 18 months. The project was subsequently delayed. However, five RCMP detachments in B.C. are set to start using cameras in the fall.

PMPD previously announced plans to complete a “camera impact assessment,” by the end of 2023.

Discussing the issue in 2022, police board member Dave Fox suggested the department didn’t feel the issue was a priority, noting the expense and the city’s relatively low crime rate.

“We intentionally decided that Port Moody would not be the ones to lead the way in this area,” explained police board member Dave Fox in 2022. “We don’t have the operational or strategic need.”

Besides paying for the cameras, the department would also need to invest in data storage and to hire a staffer that could retrieve, edit and vet footage.

Speaking to Global News, former RCMP officer and police reform advocate Alain Babineau called body-worn cameras an: “essential piece of equipment for policing in 21st century.”

Captured footage has sometimes been critical. In Los Angeles, recently released body-camera footage showed that a police officer shot a man who was holding a plastic fork, USA Today reported.

In California, the Rialto Police Department was the first police department in the world to participate in a randomized controlled trial of police body-worn cameras. The study suggested that using body-worn cameras caused an approximately 50 percent reduction in the use of force by officers.

Many police departments in the United States have grappled with the sheer volume of footage and the difficulty in examining it.

According to a ProPublica article, one company’s central database now contains more than 100 petabytes of police officer footage, the equivalent of more than 5,000 years of high-definition video.

Take the survey here.