While they have already been rolled out in other parts of the country and province, body cameras are still a few months away from being deployed in the West Kootenay.
Castlegar RCMP Sgt. Monty Taylor told city council this week that originally they expected to have the cams in place next month, but that has been pushed back to March.
“They’re trying to work out a few kinks as they go along,” he said. “One of the issues is the transcription piece and some of the delays they’re experiencing. We don’t want to rush it too far and bog down the system.”
Trail RCMP Sgt. Mike Wicentowich said in an email that his detachment is in the same boat.
“The amount of video and processing is apparently time consuming and no additional resources or officers have been identified to assist with the workload,” he said.
“The rollout was slowed down until new policy and procedures could be established to lessen the amount of administrative time for the police and Crown counsel.”
Wicentowich said he is “100 per cent behind body cameras,” but he expects officers will increasingly be behind desks managing paperwork associated with them.
He noted that staffing for the Greater Trail detachment has not increased since 2004, when the Trail, Rossland, and Fruitvale detachments amalgamated.
Sgt. Vince LeBlanc of the BC Highway Patrol said in an email that he hasn’t received any official word on when cameras will be available in Nelson.
According to the RCMP’s website, police started using bodycams in November 2024 and expected it would take a year to 18 months for them to be in place in all detachments. As of June, over 63 per cent of the cameras the RCMP purchased were said to be in use.
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