The Hamilton police board has tabled a motion to introduce body cameras to the city’s frontline officers.
At a police board meeting on Thursday, Sgt. Scott Moore with the Hamilton Police Service (HPS) delivered a presentation on outfitting 633 officers with cameras.
The project would cost around $15 million, including the cost of the cameras, hardware and software and hiring new staff, along with outfitting new workstations and computers.
But HPS Chief Frank Bergen said the cost of the body cameras is part of meeting demands from the public about the service’s quality.
“There is a cost to this question of public trust, accountability and transparency,” Bergen said, adding that the cameras will help both the public and the police.
The board decided to table the motion until all members were present and able to vote.
More staff needed for body cam program
Moore said his research shows HPS would need five new staff members to process the videos and data from the cameras, and to handle freedom of information and court requests for the videos.
Passing the motion at the board would mean the $15-million price tag will be included in the 2025 police budget, and if council later asks for the police budget to be trimmed, it will be at HPS’s discretion to decide what is cut.
Moore said the department would need 650 cameras to cover its call-in officers. Each officer issued a camera would have their own account where the footage from their body cam would be uploaded.
Dash cameras already used by most HPS vehicles
Currently 78 out of the 91 vehicles Hamilton police use are outfitted with dash cameras, which can also read licence plates.
Moore said all patrol and traffic cruisers have the cameras, while undercover and plain door vehicles do not.
Since the dash camera program began on April 17, 2023, the service has found them useful for court and transparency, said Moore.
Bergen said another value of the cameras is that when someone is in custody in the car, they are on tape.
If the board decides against moving the motion for the $15 million program, there are three alternatives.
The service can deploy a smaller number of body cameras, it can wait and do more research over the next few years, or it can stop looking into the cameras altogether.
The program will be discussed again on May 23.
