Calgary Police Commission told to expect six month wait for body-worn cameras

After praising itself for being one of the first police forces in the nation to roll out body-worn cameras, Calgary police are back to page one.

The Calgary Police Commission was told Tuesday afternoon in their monthly meeting that it would be another six months before they were able to procure new equipment.

Senior management had to go back to the drawing board after discovering mechanical problems with the previous cameras.

“Officers are calling for them too, Arguably at the end of the day we were one of the first in the country to elevate the process to acquire and get them out but by misfortune the product didn’t work, So, now we go back to acquiring another product. Even when we talk to our membership, it’s not as simple as going out to Home Depot,” said Police Chief Roger Chaffin.

Chaffin says there is some bureaucracy and red tape they have to deal with first, including trade agreements with the province and the country.

He added there is a legal process and review that has to be undertaken and they’ll execute it as quickly as they possibly can, but they’re not anticipating the new cameras to be fully rolled out until the summer.

“The nice thing about this now is we’ve already worked on policy and education pieces. There might be some minor changes but that can be addressed quickly,” Chaffin said.

Calgary’s top cop says there is an added cost in starting over but they’re able to handle it within their current budget.

The current R.F.I. (request for information) is now out from Calgary police to potential vendors.