Ottawa police delaying body camera pilot project to 2026 'at the earliest'

The Ottawa Police Service is delaying the rollout of body cameras on officers until 2026 "at the earliest," as it deals with financial pressures next year.

In February, Chief Eric Stubbs suggested a pilot project to equip officers with body cameras was expected to begin at the end of this year or the beginning of 2025.

However, a report for the Ottawa Police Service's Board's finance and audit committee says financial challenges and "inherent risks" with the 2025 budget are forcing the service to delay the launch of the program at least another year.

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Council has directed the Ottawa Police Service to draft the 2025 budget with a 2.9 per cent increase, resulting in an extra $15.3 million for police next year. The report for the committee says the budget will not "fully address some significant short and longer term financial and operational risks and does not fund some strategic initiatives."

One of those initiatives will be the rollout of body cameras, as the service must address other technology assets.

"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 drafted by Stubbs.

"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."

The Ottawa Police Service's Board approved a pilot project for body cameras in 2016, but no officers were equipped with the cameras. Former chief Peter Sloly revived the discussion in 2020.

The 2023 Ottawa Police Services budget included funding for a body-worn camera pilot project and the accompanying data storage infrastructure, called Digital Evidence Management System or DEMS. Stubbs told reporters in February that getting the data storage in place is a crucial first step before body cameras are rolled out, and once installed, the pilot project can begin.

The report for the finance and audit committee provides no other information about the reason for the delay in rolling out the body cameras.

The Ottawa Police Association supports body-worn cameras for officers.

"I absolutely think that we need body-worn cameras," Mathew Cox, Ottawa Police Association president, told CTV News Ottawa.

"I've been an advocate for body-worn cameras since I've taken the seat as the president of the association. The province of Ontario should follow Alberta's lead, and I think it should be mandated by the province for body-worn cameras across the board."

Cox says the rollout of body cameras "constantly gets pushed down the road due to the costing associated with body-worn cameras."

"Well, I have to say from an association perspective, staffing is our main priority, and I think that staffing has to be at the forefront and that body-worn cameras would be secondary to our staffing concerns."

Defence lawyer Michael Spratt says body cameras are expensive for a police force.

“In the past, I actually have been a proponent of them because it seems like they should be a really good idea," Spratt says.

"They allow, you know, defense lawyers, they allow the justice system to have a pretty accurate version of what can often be disputed facts. But looking at that, one small benefit sort of ignores all the downsides of spending a lot of money to equip the police with body cameras.”

Spratt says he has had cases where there's been an "important piece of evidence" caught by body cameras, it's important to look at why the cameras are needed.

"I think when you talk to members of communities who are going to be captured on these cameras most of the time and you look at some of the infrastructure that's going to be needed, I think that you can come to the conclusion that body cameras aren't a way to hold police accountable," Spratt said.

"They're the reason why police are for body cameras is because they actually uphold the ‘status quo.'"

In May, the Cornwall Police Service began the first phase of a body-worn camera pilot project. Brockville police began using body-worn cameras on some officers in 2023.

Police in Vancouver and Toronto use body-worn cameras and the Alberta government mandated them across the province in 2023.

With files from CTV News Ottawa's Ted Raymond and Kimberley Fowler