Sudbury police will begin body camera training next month

Greater Sudbury Police has taken delivery of body cameras for its officers and will begin training next month.

"We're at that point now where we're ready to launch the body-worn camera program," Chief Sara Cunningham told the police services board on Wednesday.

Greater Sudbury Police has taken delivery of body cameras for its officers and will begin training next month. (Photo from video)

"We're training 30 of our officers here in December … and Jan. 1 we'll roll out cameras to certain units."

The cameras can fit in the palm of your hand and can turn on with the push of a button or automatically.

"When an officer removes the taser and or firearm from their holster the equipment, the body-worn cameras automatically activated," said Insp. Marc Brunette, who’s overseeing the rollout.

"For example, if there (are) two or more officers within 30 feet of the officer who removes their firearm and or taser from their holsters, the officers within that 30-foot radius, cameras get automatically activated."

The cameras have 14 hours of battery life and 128 GB of storage -- more than enough for an entire shift, Brunette added.

He said the cameras are durable enough to survive weather conditions in the north.

"It's designed to sustain elements of dust, snow, rain, sand, it can be submersed under water for a very short time and certainly the cold climates that we're custom here in the north," Brunette said.

"The operating ranges exceed -20 to over plus 50 ... I don't see or foresee any issues when it comes to deploying these devices or this technology on our front lines."

Officers in the traffic management and emergency response units will be the first to receive the cameras. Their use will be evaluated and audited for the first six months to ensure their use are complying with guidelines.

"The heavy lifting comes when we actually collect the video footage and we have to now disclose it to the courts or another oversight body," Cunningham said.

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"We have to make sure, you know, under privacy legislation that we're not releasing footage that we shouldn't be."

She said the hope is to have the rest of the 175 frontline officers outfitted with the cameras during Phase 2 of the rollout.

Police have set aside $2.25 million to fund the implementation of not only the cameras but upgrades to stun guns and the collection and handling of digital evidence.