'A very large number': Opposition questions projected cost of body cams for SPVM

Q&A: Cost of body cams for police too high? Andre Durocher from the SPVM weighs in on the report presented to Montreal’s public security committee regarding the body cam pilot project.

The City of Montreal’s Public Security Commission is hearing from the SPVM and the providers of body cams on the results of a year-long pilot project.

This week, a report by the police force concluded that body cams are too expensive and difficult to use – but others disagree.

Montreal’s opposition council says they don’t trust the details in the force’s report, including the $17.4 million price tag to outfit 3,000 patrollers with cameras over five years.

The report also says the SPVM would require an additional 20 people to download and catalogue the footage taken off of the body cams, at an additional cost of $24 million.

Axon, the company developing these body cams, was at the public hearings and say they believe Montreal police are using old technology and applications in their day-to-day work.

In the year since the pilot project debuted, Axon says new technology became available and could lower the overall cost.

Other police forces, they say, put body cam technology to work for a much lower price.

“It seems a very large number,” explained opposition councillor Benoit Langevin. “And to come back to the research and analysis that was made through that pilot project took 16 months.”

“In the last 16 months, on a very small and specific police station on specific areas, I mean, we don’t think it gives the whole scope of Montreal, [or] the information necessary to make this decision,” he added.

The opposition is calling for public consultations on this issue. They say there are many minority groups who would probably like to be heard on this because of racial profiling allegations - or allegations of mistreatment - against Montreal police in the past.

Alex Norris, head of the Public Security Commission, says there will not be any public consultations held for now.

According to Norris, the public hearings were open, and the committee was open to hear anyone who felt the need to speak or ask questions.

He says there are too many developing technologies and possible legal implications to comfortably move forward with the proposal at this time.