Montreal police have decided that wearing body cameras is not the way to go.
They're too heavy, expensive, make officers feel ill at ease, they say, and have limited benefits, among other concerns.
Police officers took part in a pilot project in 2016 and 2017 that tested out the body cams.
The department presented its final report Tuesday night to Montreal city council, where it concluded it would cost $17.4 million over five years to outfit 3,000 patrollers with body cameras.
City hall opposition leader Lionel Perez disagreed with the police response, saying transparency is what matters most.
“At the end of the day, it's a decision for elected officials to make,” he said. “(Police) made some recommendations, and we're looking forward to other solutions, but we think there's a clear resistance on the part of the police. We're not surprised - no one wants to be watched over - but that's the point of this, and this is the new reality. We think it has to be part of the transparency and the accountability of the SPVM.”
Two-thirds of police officers who took part in the pilot project reported that body cameras would de-personalize their interactions with citizens.
The report also indicated, though, that most of the citizens who were stopped by police during the pilot project did not mind being filmed.
