Guelph has joined the chorus of municipalities considering body-worn cameras for bylaw enforcement officers.
Doug Godfrey, the city’s general manager of operations, confirmed the idea is in the “very preliminary” stages at this point.
“We are aware some municipalities are equipping their bylaw staff with body-worn cameras,” he said in an email. “We have been actively gathering information on this topic from other agencies along with vendors and will be reviewing the matter in the near future.”
Body-worn cameras could help in the collection of evidence, as well as improve transparency and accountability issues, said Scott Green, the city’s manager of corporate and community safety.
“Our bylaw guys are on the front line, they do all the COVID-related calls,” explained the retired Guelph Police Service inspector, who was involved with the body-worn cameras pilot project there. He said that as time goes on, there’s a lot more frustration around the COVID restrictions.
“We do get a lot of pushback on that.”
Beyond the pandemic, it’s not uncommon for bylaw officers to encounter aggressive individuals, especially while responding to large parties, Green said.
“Lots of times you deal with people who are under the influence and perhaps their memory of how things transpire might not be as clear as somebody who is sober,” he explained. “It certainly would be nice to capture some of that in the event there’s complaints afterward.”
Earlier this month Guelph/Eramosa Township approved body-worn cameras for its bylaw enforcement officer.
“We haven’t had any major incidents or anything,” Mayor Chris White previously told GuelphToday. “But going forward, we think it’s a nice way to protect our staff, it’s a way to get a proper record of what’s occurring, and it’s good for the residents as well.”
While “nine out of 10 people” the bylaw department deals with “are wonderful,” occasionally “there’s a little more aggressiveness in some situations,” White said.
