By Ashley Wiebe

MHPS extends body camera pilot project to 12 months

Dec 21, 2017 | 7:08 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Video evidence captured by the cameras officers with the Medicine Hat Police Service wear will soon be used in upcoming court matters.

The service began a pilot project for the body worn cameras in September.

Initially the project was expected to last six months, but the Office of the Chief said the project will be extended to 12 months.

“We’ve found that we really wanted to do some robust reporting at the end of it, so we’ve come up with 14 questions that we basically want to ask to see how much value it’s actually going to bring to the police service and the community,” said Inspector Tim McGough.

HERE'S WHAT TO KNOW

Summer pool hours extended and discounts applied as Big Marble Go Centre upgrades start

Apr 18, 2024

Medicine Hat company drawing in clients with witty signage

Apr 16, 2024

Medicine Hat College holding event for missing and murdered Indigenous women awareness day

Apr 16, 2024

McGough spoke to members of the police commission on Thursday night, explaining that the service would like to see how some of the evidence they’ve collected over the past few months could be used in court.

“We think that a year, 12 months, will give us a lot more data, more video to go through, to see if it actually does bring value,” he said. “Does it help bring cases to an early resolution in court? Does it have an effect on the officers behaviour or the citizens […] behaviour when they’re interacting with police as well?”

The service has also added a few more officers to the project.

Originally six officers were assigned the body worn cameras, as well as in-car cameras. Four additional officers will now also participate in the project.

“We’re working on the principal that the more cameras we have out there, the more video we will take and the more chance it has to get to court to see if it actually does bring value,” McGough added.

Since the project launched, members have made presentations to the Crown’s office, so prosecutors have a better understanding as to how the captured video could be used as evidence in a case.

More recently, officers have met with the provincial court judges, showing them how this evidence could be used in their courtrooms moving forwards.

McGough said the video isn’t always perfect and can be obstructed, depending on the type of situation an officer is in.

“It’s just an enhancement to the evidence the officer is going to give,” he said. “They’ll still have his testimony, they’ll still have his officer notes, they’ll still have physical evidence but they will have a video of some description from his body worn camera that will enhance his evidence.”