The North Bay Police Board is continuing to move forward at looking at the possibility of having body-worn cameras for officers.
Back in early June, the Board asked the administration to put a report together on the issue. Deputy Chief Mike Daze says they are still researching the subject.
"It is an area being observed by a lot of police agencies, and in fact a lot of agencies are starting to move towards that after going through some pilot projects, and then determining what their technological capability is, in addition to some of the cost factors that surround the body-worn cameras," Daze stated after Tuesday's monthly Police Board meeting.
"The North Bay Police Service and the Board is interested in continuing to explore that. I think now we have some police services like Toronto and Peel that have released their platforms and some of the research that they have been engaged with for a number of years."
Dennis O'Connor, Board Chair, says the service had been looking at body-worn cameras and they were waiting to hear back from a study on the topic that was conducted by the Toronto Police Service.
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Daze says one of the most important issues they are looking into is how they can store that much information and how long it needs to be retained.
"I think there are some things we can glean and learn from that so we are at the stage now where we are going to start examining what programs are there. How does it work in terms of some of the digital storage of the information and what options will exist for us here in North Bay," noted Daze.
"Over the coming months that's something we are going to be doing our research on and presenting back to the board in terms of its feasibility and how do we go about executing if we are going to go down the path of body-worn cameras, but there is certainly interest from the Board to continue exploring it."
Daze says the officers and the service are in favour of using body cameras.
"I am supportive of body-worn cameras and so are our officers," said Daze.
"It is another piece of technology that allows us to have that accountability factor and also an investigative aid for police officers so I think there are benefits for both the police and the community in that."
