Why London’s police chief wants to spend $4.2M on body cameras

All frontline police officers in London could be outfitted with body cameras as part of Chief Thai Truong’s plan to modernize the force.

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Truong pitched his four-year budget last week to the city’s police services board, touting the $475-million spending request as a much-needed path to changing the way police deliver service to the community.

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Included in the proposed budget is $4.2-million request to equip the force’s 326 front-line officers – constables, sergeants and staff sergeants – with body-worn cameras beginning in January 2025 and manage the massive amount of data the devices capture.

“It’s a big transition,” Truong said.

The body cameras are just one piece of Truong’s modernization plan that he says will cut down police response times that have arisen in recent years, leading to low officer morale and mounting frustrations from the public.

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London police are also requesting millions more for a digital evidence management system, cameras for cruisers and other supporting technologies to integrate with the body cameras.

Those combined technologies – provided by Axon, an Arizona-based company that develops technology and weapons for law enforcement – ​​will streamline policing duties from collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses to providing disclosure to the Crown’s office, Truong said.

Using the new Axon system, officers will be able to upload photos and videos from their cellphones to a database and record audio statements from scenes, eliminating the need for people to visit the police station for a formal video interview. Citizens also can upload photos and videos for investigators to review using a link texted to them by police, saving officers from going door-to-door to collect it.

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“It’s going to decrease response time, but it’s also going to allow our officers to engage with the community more,” Truong said of his modernization push. “There are so many efficiencies out there right now that we’re not capitalizing on.”

More police forces across Canada are adopting body cameras, a technology first used by police in London, England, in 2005. The RCMP plans to provide 10,000 to 15,000 of the devices to its officers across the country. Alberta became the first province in Canada to mandate all police officers wear body cameras.

Early proponents of body cameras championed the devices mainly for their ability to improve police transparency, leading to some hesitancy within policing communities to embrace the technology.

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But that sentiment has shifted in recent years as police forces using body cameras found the technology has not only simplified time-consuming policing procedures, but also sped up the process of resolving complaints against officers.

“It holds the community accountable for making false complaints. It holds the police accountable if we’ve erred in our conduct or performance,” said St. Thomas police Chief Marc Roskamp, ​​whose force was among the first in Ontario to equip officers with body cameras.

A St. Thomas police report on body cameras highlighted how footage captured by the devices led to speedy resolutions in both Special Investigations Unit probes and internal police investigations into conduct complaints.

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“It does provide best evidence immediately,” Roskamp said of body-camera footage.

Roskamp bailed that body cameras generate a massive amount of data – more than 70,000 videos and images were captured by St. Thomas officers last year – that’s time consuming for police to redact before it can be turned over to the Crown’s office for a criminal prosecution.

Truong said London police plan to hire six editorial specialists, part of an overall budget request to hire 189 officers and civilian staffers.

London’s police board voted unanimously to approve the proposed police budget, but city council will ultimately have to approve it in March as part of the city’s overall budget.

Truong acknowledged his spending request, which includes an 11 jump next year alone, is “aggressive” but said it’s the only way to get officers back to doing more proactive policing and community engagement.

“Our officers need to feel like they’re supported,” he said.

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