Great! This seems way overdue
Not sure how the cops are in Vancouver, but cameras don’t do much in US. Cops turn them off or even when they capture abuse, they usually get away with it even though it’s on video. Better than nothing, I suppose.
I’m hoping that’s part of why it took so long, to iron out some of these issues
Yeah, kind of blows me away it took this long. Duct tape and a cheap phone, I could’ve done this for the police on the cheap! (Joking but seriously, how does it take this long?)
Still, a good step towards betterness!
Most of it was probably deciding whether to do it, and what company to contract etc.
I can’t say why it took this long compared to a lot of other places, but some of the things to consider might be things like storage, making sure necessary data can be deleted, making sure it’s kept private, logistics and unique requirements (privacy laws in Canada vs. wherever it’s been implemented already), etc.
It’s easy to strap a camera on a police office to have a proof of concept, it’s harder to make sure it ALWAYS ticks off all the other boxes
You and your perfectly reasonable takes! Good thoughts, thanks!
As I work in a large bureaucracy, I really should be more sensitive to these sorts of issues/considerations…
You give them way too much credit. They were waiting to make sure other people departments had practices that allowed them to ignore the evidence if it worked against them and keep it if it helped the police. You know, like all of their other policies.
Next up…
DTES “advocates” hate the violation of addict and criminal right to privacy after cameras show police dealing with addicts and criminals appropriately.
As far as I’m concerned the instant a legal complaint is filed all video clips should be made public record so there’s nothing to hide on either side.
