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The RCMP Still Haven't Been Able to Find a Good Body Camera

But they're not giving up yet.
Image: Flickr/Mark Klotz

As outrage over police killings reaches a fever pitch, forces from Toronto to New York have adopted body cameras in an effort to increase transparency with the people they serve. But the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada's federal police force, still claims they can't find a single camera model suitable to their needs.

Earlier this year, the RCMP ran limited pilot studies on the use of body cameras by officers, and spent just over $12,000 on 32 cameras from four different suppliers. Apparently, those tests didn't go so well. A new request for information directed at suppliers of body cameras posted today to the government of Canada's procurement website site states: "To date, no camera has been identified that meets all of the RCMP's needs. The cameras that have been researched and tested have issues with battery life and durability. Additionally, the cameras do not always adequately capture the incident due to mounting difficulties. Significant limitations were identified in the areas of camera mounting, video quality and user interface."

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The RCMP's requirements include a 12 hour battery life, weatherproofing, and the ability to operate in Canadian weather ranging from -20 to 30 degrees Celsius.

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The specifications of the cameras that the RCMP has already tested aren't clear, and body cameras on the market cover a wide range of quality and ability. While some cameras only hold a charge for a couple hours, others, like the Axon camera that have been used in studies by several departments in the US, boast a 12 hour battery life and are weather-proofed. Axon was not one of the suppliers that the RCMP contracted with during its pilot study.

One might be tempted to say that the RCMP is dragging its heels on adopting a technology that has already exposed police lies and murder, and which one 2013 study found to dramatically reduce the number of police interactions involving force. However, according to David Fraser, a Canadian privacy lawyer who's been keeping close tabs on the progression of body camera adoption in Canada, the RCMP is just trying to get it right.

"The most important thing is that the RCMP is looking to deploy body-worn cameras at all," Fraser told me over the phone. "It would seem like they want to do it right, in a way that's mindful and economic."

As for the RCMP's specific complaints with the cameras, Fraser said he's "not heard these same concerns from other police departments," but that the RCMP likely has more demanding operating requirements than local police forces.

The RCMP did not immediately respond to Motherboard's request for comment, and we will update this article if we hear back.

UPDATE: RCMP assistant commissioner Pierre Perron met with six executives from Evidence.com, a division of Taser, the manufacturer of the Axon camera mentioned in this article, in June. This may suggest that the RCMP is eyeing the Axon as a possibility for its officers, VICE Canada parliamentary correspondent Justin Ling reports.