SUDBURY -- Around 30 people gathered with Black Lives Matter Sudbury Thursday afternoon to address and talk about ways to fix the root causes of racism.
One of the top priorities on the group’s list is to make it mandatory for police to start wearing body cameras at all times.
“It’s not even just something that people who may not be comfortable around police officers may want,” said Darius Garneau, of Black Lives Matter Sudbury.
"I would hope that it’s something that police officers would want too so that if that footage has to be looked at it could show if they followed procedures properly.”
Greater Sudbury Police Chief Paul Pedersen said the idea was brought to the police services board June 10, but it's something police have been considering for quite some time.
“There has been a lot of research done, a lot of lessons learned and we should be able to pull this report together in short order and give our board some options,” Pedersen said.
The chief said a big part of the decision will be the costs associated with body cameras for all officers.
“It’s not just the hardware, it’s not just a camera or GoPro," he said. "It’s actually the digital evidence management that comes behind it, the privacy issues having to blur out young people, having to disclose it all to court and staff. It requires staff to do it and that’s a multi-year plan so that’s all coming forward.”
The Black Lives Matter group also says it wants the city to change the composition of the police services board to include black, indigenous people and other persons of colour.
