Manitoba Mounties to deploy the first body cams in the province: RCMP

Posted on November 20, 2024 by Peggy

Body cameras will be attached to the vests of officers in the city of Steinbach starting Friday, RCMP said at a Wednesday press conference.

Assistant commissioner Scott McMurchy said the city of 18,000 people was chosen to springboard the cameras because of the community’s proximity to Winnipeg headquarters — about 50 kilometres away — and its reliable internet connectivity.

“If there are any technical issues, any logistical challenges that the team here from headquarters can deploy out to the detachment of Steinbach to support the front-line detachment members and ensure that these systems are working properly,” said Scott McMurchy.

Mounties in Portage la Prairie, Amaranth and Treherne, East Saint Paul, Grand Marais and Saint Pierre-Jolys will be the next in line for the cameras and will receive them throughout December 2024 to January of next year.

McMurchy says over 490 officers in 44 detachments across the province will receive body cams over the next five months, including several detachments serving First Nations communities.

The cameras will store the footage on the physical camera itself until the officer returns to detachment headquarters where the video and audio will be uploaded to a maintained digital evidence management system that only the officer involved and supervisor has access to, said McMurchy.

Man in glasses speaks at a podium with an RCMP backdrop. — Assistant Commissioner Scott McMurchy announced Manitoba’s first RCMP officer body cameras Wednesday, to launch on Nov. 22, 2024. (CBC)

The body cameras and software used to run them are distributed by Axon Public Safety Canada Inc., and a red light will flash below the camera lens once the record button is pressed on the device.

McMurchy says officers trained to use cameras are required to read and acknowledge policies around the body cam usage and may be subject to an internal code of conduct investigation if they fail to turn the cameras on while required.

The local cameras are part of a national program funded by the federal government, who committed nearly $240 million over six years to start the national program, and will contribute around $50 million annually in operating funding.