Lethbridge police welcome Trudeau's plan for body-worn cameras

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that he's committed to moving forward with the adoption of body cameras by police across the country.

Lethbridge, Alta. — Justin Trudeau thinks body-worn cameras will improve the transparency of interactions between police and the people they interact with, and Monday Lethbridge Police Chief Scott Wood said he agreed.

Following the death of American George Floyd, protesters around the world are calling for change when it comes to policing tactics, including using body-worn cameras in an attempt to seek more transparency.

During his Monday mornings briefing,  after a weekend where anti-racism and anti-police brutality marches took place around the world, Trudeau said we need to do much more and we need to do it now.

“One of the things we discussed was the adoption of body cameras," Trudeau said. "I’m committing to raising this with the provinces this week, so we can move forward as quickly as possible.”

Trudeau said he will be advocating that municipal law enforcement agencies also seek more transparency.

“As you know, the federal government has jurisdiction over the RCMP but there are many other provincial and municipal police forces that should be out looking at greater transparency measures as well," Trudeau said. "I will certainly be talking about the problem with the provinces and premiers about the need to move forward on measures like body cameras.”

Trudeau said this work along with improving Indigenous policing will continue to accelerate the changes that need to be made. Prior to Trudeau’s announcement, Lethbridge Police Chief Scott Woods said the LPS has been aiming to use body-worn cameras for several years now.

Woods said LPS built the cost of body -worn cameras into their 2019-2020 business plans and now it’s just a matter of time before they will be able to use them.

“We’re down to a couple different vendors," Woods said. "We may actually look at choosing two vendors just for comparison purposes so our goal is by the fall of this year or winter of 2020 if not starting in January (2021) is where we want to go.”

Woods said the research LPS has done with Calgary police shows body-worn cameras have helped increase guilty pleas and give the extra transparency to both the police and public that will also help regain public trust. He said having body-worn cameras also helps address some of the community's concerns about police relations.

“I don’t personally think it’s going to solve all the problems," he said. "It’s a step in the right direction.

"Really truly," he added, "we're going to solve the problems with (community) relationships by listening and hearing about the concerns that are being brought forward to us, working together and forging a path for that we need in order to go forward.”

Woods said LPS welcomes support working with provincial and federal governments so they can start to use body-worn cameras at an even earlier date.