Cornwall police equipping all officers with body cameras

All front-line police officers in Cornwall will be wearing body-worn cameras by the end of the month.

The Cornwall Police Service announced it's beginning the full deployment of its body-worn cameras on Wednesday, after launching a pilot project with a small group of officers wearing cameras each shift since May. All frontline officers will be equipped with body-worn cameras by Oct. 31.

"The feedback from our members has been positive,” Staff Sgt. George Knezevic said in a statement. “Body-worn cameras provide greater transparency and are an essential tool for capturing evidence.”

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Police say all records and evidence captured by the body-worn camera will be stored on a cloud-based platform.

"The goal is to provide an unbiased and independent account of police interactions with the public," police said in a media release.

Cornwall police say the body-worn cameras are used to provide a visual account for police interactions, capture evidence as part of investigations and "promote accountability and professionalism within the service."

The Cornwall Police Service is expanding its body-worn camera program to all officers as the Ottawa Police Service delays the rollout of cameras on its officers until 2026 "at the earliest."

The cameras are being delayed due to budget constraints, as the service says a 2.9 per cent increase in its 2025 budget "does not fund some strategic initiatives."

"The Service has a requirement to regularly replace and enhance technology assets to remain efficient and effective operationally, while enabling strategic initiatives to advance," says the report for the Ottawa Police Services Board.

"Under the proposed budgeting scenario, this will not occur at the level required and the roll-out of Body Worn Cameras will be delayed into 2026 at the earliest."