Cobourg Police Services Board Votes Unanimously To Proceed With Exploration of Body-Worn Cameras
Video of entire meeting
The Cobourg Police Services Board unanimously voted to further explore the use of body-worn cameras at a special meeting on Tuesday, August 24, 2021.
The meeting was held at Venture13 to discuss the motion by Police Services Board Vice-Chair Ron Kerr that stated, “Whereas the Cobourg Police Service Board (The Board) has received a detailed report and presentation on the potential of a body-worn camera project for the Cobourg Police Services. And further, that the community has been given multiple opportunities to engage with the Board in a variety of formats including community consultative on-line survey; attend or view the presentation on body-worn cameras and the opportunity to provide additional feedback over the summer 2021 period. The Cobourg Police Services Board continues to support the exploration of body-warn cameras in delivering enhanced and efficient community and officer safety and directs the staff to prepare and tender a Request for Proposal for the project. The RFP should provide options for the Board to consider in operationalizing this concept. Further, that the Board’s deliberations will remain transparent and available for public comment during the final decision process.”
Cobourg appears to be one of only two police services of its size looking into the use of body-worn cameras.
During discussion, Chair Dean Pepper stated, “as a Board we strive to support operational excellence.”
Like many other services, Pepper stated that communities are calling for operational transparency within the police service.
During the past year, the Board has received information through a number of ways including a presentation by officers along with engaging with the public to help in their decision to move forward.
Cobourg Mayor John Henderson who is a member of the Board stated he supports the motion for a Request for Proposal in principle.
“I believe that will give us the accurate options and financial picture which is critical as we prepare not only the Cobourg Police Services Board budget but as we align that budget along with Cobourg Council.”
Henderson stated he wanted to know the “full complete picture” in terms of cost of body-worn cameras.
“The only way to get that accurate information is through a RFP. I do think without the RFP we would just be guessing.”
Board member Sean Graham said he also supports the motion of the RFP but added that last year the police service received 10,994 calls for service. From nearly 11,000 calls there were four public complaints. Graham said it works out to be 0.036% of issues with the public dealing with police.
“Which is a huge credit to our officers who have done fantastic work.”
Graham gave credit to the Board as they are “trail blazing” as the first small town police service engaging in the use of body-worn cameras.
Graham said he had seen a estimate of cost and referred to it as “substantial.”
Pepper added that body-worn cameras aren’t just for monitoring police.
“It’s also a tool to have our police officers protected from the public. We’ve seen in a number of videos, they do take a lot of abuse on the road.”
Pepper added the benefit of collecting evidence by the body-worn cameras that can be used in court.
“It is an evidence based tool as well.”
Cobourg Councillor Aaron Burchat said he also supported the idea for the RFP saying, “it’s a step in the right direction.”
“It also is going to protect both the members of our service and the public which I think is very critical.”
“It’s something we should do.”
Pepper added to Burchats comments, “even though we are small, we can’t think small. We have to think big. And we’ll have to blaze a trail for the other police services.”
The last person to speak was Vice-Chair Ron Kerr who brought the motion forward stated once the RFP is complete, “I’m going to have to be convinced that the majority of the taxpayers in this town will want body-worn cameras put in place for our force.”
“I feel we have to do our best to keep the Police Services budget at a reasonable level. And I do have a very strong feeling, that body-worn camera program is put in place that the police budget will rise substantially.”
It was a unanimous vote with the meeting lasting just over 18-minutes.
The next Police Services Board meeting is on September 21, 2021 at 739 D’Arcy Street in Cobourg.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love