The City of Dauphin is currently working out how two recent announcements are going to affect the cost of policing in the municipality.
A two per cent increase in funding for policing will ease the burden somewhat on the city’s largest budget line item, while a new directive outlining that all frontline RCMP officers must now wear body cameras will add some expense for the City.
In terms of the increase in funding, city manager Sharla Griffiths is pleased to see the province move the needle. Funding for policing was frozen at slightly more than $900,000 for six years, she said, so any increase is welcome. This year, the City budgetted $1.24 million for it’s 70 per cent share of policing costs, Griffiths added.
“We’re anticipating in 2025 we’re going to get a little bit more money,” she said, adding it is sometimes difficult to determine the timing of provincial grants.
“They work on fiscal years and we work on calendar years, so sometimes they’ll say 2023-24 and they’ll mean the 2024 payment, and sometimes they’ll say the 2024-25, but we get it in 2024, as well.”
Whenever it comes, the bulk of that grant increase will be used to outfit local officers with the new body cameras.
“We would pay for 70 per cent of the cost to outfit our police members. The best information that I have is approximately $3,500 per camera, per member,” Griffiths said.
“We authorize 15 officers so that’s $36,750.”
The cameras are part of the RCMP’s ongoing efforts to be transparent and accountable to the communities in which they operate.
The use of these cameras will be complemented by a digital evidence management system that will be used to store and manage body-worn video.
The Steinbach detachment was the first in Manitoba to receive the camera going online on Nov. 22. They will be followed by detachments in Portage la Prairie, Amaranth and Treherne on Dec. 4; East St. Paul, Grand Marais and Selkirk on Jan. 7, 2025; and St-Pierre-Jolys on Jan. 22, 2025.
Griffiths said the Dauphin Detachment will be begin using the cameras on Feb. 25, 2025.
In total, between Nov. 22 and April 2025, it is expected that more than 490 Manitoba RCMP officers in 44 detachments will be equipped with body-worn cameras.
That number includes detachments which service Ebb and Flow First Nation, Peguis First Nation, Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, Chemawawin Cree Nation, O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation, as well as a number of other First Nation communities.
All other detachments throughout Manitoba will have body-worn cameras and the digital evidence management system rolled out to them in a phased approach over the next 18 months.
“Communities have been asking for more accountability and transparency in policing. We are very pleased to say that the RCMP has listened and is deploying body-worn cameras throughout Manitoba,” said Assistant Commissioner Scott McMurchy, Commanding Officer of the Manitoba RCMP.
“With today’s launch, it truly demonstrates our commitment to enhancing the trust between the Manitoba RCMP and the communities we so proudly serve throughout the province.”
Body-worn cameras can help increase trust between police and the communities they serve because the video evidence collected will provide an independent, unbiased, and objective way to capture interactions between the public and police officers.
The video evidence will also help resolve public complaints more quickly, and improve evidence gathering.
RCMP officers will usually be wearing their body-worn cameras on their chest and the public will know it’s recording when a red light is visible and flashing below the lens of the camera.
