Medicine Hat police chief supports provincial body camera mandate

The service currently utilizes 26 body-worn cameras and four in-car cameras. Once the provincial mandate is in place that number will grow to somewhere between 85 and 100 body-worn cameras and eight in-car cameras.

Chief Alan Murphy says he supports the provincial mandate.

“Overall positive, nothing bad to say about it, once the details are worked out,” says Murphy.

Murphy says the details specifically around the funding of the mandate between the province and the Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police need to be ironed out.

“The storage of the video and the management of that video, disclosure to the courts. That actually takes probably two employees to do a full rollout of that,” he says. “Right now we have the equivalent of one employee doing that work, so we’d be looking at two. I think all chiefs of police and municipalities would be concerned about funding.”

Body-worn cameras will be attached to an officer’s chest or head and include a microphone and built-in storage.

Alberta is expected to be the first province in Canada body-worn camera mandate for its police officers.

by Brendan Miller

Medicine Hat police chief supports provincial body camera mandate

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