Smile, you’re on body-cam

OPP officers with the Collingwood and Blue Mountains detachment will start wearing body-worn cameras.

New high-tech gear is coming to a police department near you.

New body-cameras have arrived in OPP’s Central Region and Sgt. Wes Staddon said it’s been a positive addition to the officers’ uniforms.

Weighing only a few pounds and about the size of two stacked cellphones, Staddon said the new tech – Axon 4 Body Worn Cameras – is considered advantageous by both law enforcement officials and the public.

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“I have not heard one negative thing about them,” Staddon said, adding “We want transparency, too.”

The cameras not only record when they’re on, but they also prerecord up to 30 seconds before they’re brought into use.

Staddon said they’re one more piece of the tech gear that links to the OPP’s Digital Evidence Management Service.

The Digital Evidence Management system collects more than video evidence. OPP vehicles already have in-car cameras and Automatic Licence Plate Recognition (ALPR) software installed. All footage collected is stored in the cloud-based system.

“Our cars, our cameras, our Tasers, are all linked to the digital evidence service,” he said.

“As far as officer safety goes, it’s life changing.”

OPP officers in both east and west regions of the province have already been using the cameras for two years, he said.

So far, 18 officers in Collingwood and the Blue Mountains have trained on the new gear.

“Body cameras have been out for so long, now it’s our turn,” he said