Starting Monday, frontline RCMP officers at select detachments across Canada will add body cameras to their uniforms.
Every month for the next nine months, 1000 frontline RCMP officers will begin using body-worn cameras and the digital evidence management system.
By this time next year, 90 per cent of frontline members will be using body-worn cameras. Full deployment will be complete in the next 12-18 months.
More than 10,000 BWCs will be in use across the country when the rollout is complete.
RCMP officers will wear the body-worn camera on their chest and the public will know it's recording when red lights are flashing below the lens of the camera.
BWCs will not be used for surveillance, 24-hour recordings, settings with a high expectation of privacy (for example: washrooms, hospitals, treatment centres), nor during strip searches or internal body cavity searches.
Audio and video captured on body-worn cameras will be uploaded and maintained on a secure digital evidence management system through the contractor, Axon Public Safety Canada Inc.
Body-worn cameras serve as an independent, unbiased, and objective way to capture interactions between the community and police officers, which can help increase trust between police and the communities they serve.
It will also help resolve public complaints more quickly, and improve evidence gathering.