Rural Manitoba police constable among few wearing body cameras

Chief Const.Darwin Drader is the lone officer for the Rural Municipalityof Cornwallis' police department in western Manitoba. But with the simple click of a switch, he's now got a second set ofeyes when he's on calls.

Drader has started using a small body-worn camera while on the job in the Rural municipality, located on the outskirts of Brandon andabout 200 km west of Winnipeg. It's believed he's the only police officer in the province currently doing so.

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The RM ofCornwallis' police board bought the camera on Drader'srecommendation about 2months ago.

"I was doing some research for a new camera for in-car in the police vehicle and noticed the body cams," he said. "My CAO and my police board decided they wanted to buy it for us."

Rural Manitoba police constable among few wearing body cameras

8 years ago

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Chief Const. Darwin Drader Drader has started using a small body-worn camera while on the job. It's believed he's the only police officer in the province currently doing so.

Drader, a cop for more than 30 years, said the camera cost about $300US, a small price to pay for added protection. It easily toggles between standby and record mode when turned on, he said.

"Nobody can come up and say 'Well, you're rude and obnoxious.'Not only do I have it on the in-car video and audio, but I have it on the body cam," Drader said.

Other police forces hesitant

But while Drader wears the high-definition camera on his shirt with no problems, other police forces in Manitoba seem hesitant to jump on board with the technology.

CBC News reached out to a dozen Manitoba police forces and found that Drader's camera is the only one currently being actively used.

The Brandon Police Serviceused one camera as a trial but decided to wait for other police forces to work out the kinks and develop policies. The Dakota Ojibway Police Service also has two of the units but they are both shelved for the same reason, a spokesperson said.

Police forces in Morden, Winkler, Victoria Beach, Rivers and Springfield all said they hadn't used the technology and had no immediate plans to start.

Altona Police Chief Perry Batchelor couldn't be reached for comment Friday but Altona Police Board minutes indicate the force did buy a set of cameras in 2014 but returned them due to "poor product quality."

A Ste. Anne's police department spokesperson couldn't be reached Friday.

The RCMP also said officers in Manitoba aren't wearing cameras. It's not known if there are plans to implement their use but they have been tested out at a small number of detachments across the country.

Camera mainly used for traffic stops

While he may be the only one wearing one, Drader doesn't consider himself a pioneer. He's only used the camera for traffic stops so far, but said it could be used when attending other calls, like domestic disputes. And the public doesn't seem to mind being on tape.

"Whenever I stop a violator, I've always advised them that they are being recorded both audio and visually," he said. "Some say 'oh cool' and some don't even respond to it."

But if they do question it's use, he already knows what he's going to say.

"It's for your safety and my safety as well.Sorry, it's going to stay on," he said.

Drader uses the camera, which is pinned to his uniform shirt, alongside video and audio recording cameras that were installed in his police vehicle more than eight years ago.

Winnipeg police scrap pilot project

The Winnipeg Police Service was going to test out 800 body-worn cameras in a pilot project that was supposed to start in 2017. However, plans for that pilot have been scrapped.The force has no plans for another pilot in the future, according to a police spokesperson.

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"When you look at the privacy commission, they talk about [finding] alternatives," said Maurice Sabourin, president of the Winnipeg Police Association. "In Winnipeg, we do have the alternative because all of our response cars are two officer cars."

Sabourin said the technology isn't necessarily a bad thing and could be useful for smaller police services where only one officer might be responding to a call. Buthe said there are better uses for police funds in Winnipeg.

"It's a huge expense to ensure accountability for police officers," he said. "Before you jump into this thing with both feet, take a look at the pricing and whether you actually really need it."

Sabourin said there arealso concerns with the time it takesofficers to download and sift through the video to edit the faces of youth or other things that he said shouldn't be shown in court. It would have been an expensive feat for an already taxed police service, he said.

"It's extremely expensive," Sabourin said. "It's money that can be better spent, especially in this day and age."

Despite the controversy, Drader said he likes having the tool at his dispense.

"I learned at a very young age that these systems are awesome," Drader said. "Especially when it comes to gathering evidence for pursuits, impaired driving, things like that."

Video he captured was recently used in court for an impaired driving case, he said.

"It just helps do the job properly," he said.