Candid cameras

THUNDER BAY -- Police are looking into wearable cameras as a way to better protect officers and citizens.

For the past two weeks the Thunder Bay Police Service has been testing a body-worn camera that it hopes will one day be worn by every officer on the force. Insp. Alan McKenzie said while cars will also be getting cameras, wearing a camera means audio and visual capabilities will always be with the officer.

“It goes into the residence, into the liquor establishment, into the laneway, it’s always with us,” McKenzie said after a police services board meeting Tuesday morning.

The cameras would come out of the same $100,000 budget the force is using to install in-vehicle cameras.

The largest part of the expense would be storing information captured on the camera. An officer testing the device recorded about two gigabytes of data after just one shift.

McKenzie said they are already working with a data management company to figure out the best way to store the data and for how long. With police forces across the United Kingdom, U.S. and now even Canada, McKenzie said there are a lot of protocols in place to draw from.

The camera also acts as a GPS unit, and can be hooked up to an officer’s communication system. McKenzie said the whole point is making sure police interact accurate.

“This is protection of police officers as well as citizens. When they tell us something they want to make sure the information is accurate, they want to make sure we’re telling the true story,” he said.

McKenzie is hoping all officers are wearing the camera by the end of this year.