Cape Breton police budget includes cameras for officers, cars and downtown streets

Tom Ayers · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 06, 2025 5:00 AM EST | Last Updated: March 6

Cape Breton Regional Municipality's constabulary committee has approved a fund summation that could spot the unit instal cameras connected officers, successful cars and connected downtown streets aboriginal this year.

Chief Robert Walsh said the fund grows each twelvemonth mostly due to the fact that of contractually obligated wage increases for unionized staff, but this year's summation includes astir $700,000 for equipment. Much of that is for cameras and software.

In an interrogation pursuing the constabulary committee gathering Wednesday, Walsh said street-level information cameras volition amended nationalist information and trim transgression downtown.

"We consciousness precise powerfully astir the body-worn cameras arsenic well, due to the fact that this volition heighten our work delivery," helium said. "It provides an further furniture of transparency successful our operations and again, that's astir ensuring nationalist assurance and spot successful the enactment that we do."

The fund summation would let the unit to commencement outfitting immoderate officers and streets with cameras, with plans to turn the fig successful the future.

The thoroughfare information cameras would not beryllium monitored live, but would supply pedestrians and concern owners with a consciousness of extortion and could beryllium utilized successful lawsuit an probe is needed, Walsh said.

"We would person privateness constraints and determination is authorities provincially that we would person to adhere to, but again, this has been done elsewhere successful places similar Charlottetown, adjacent New Glasgow present successful Nova Scotia, and truthful we're looking to effect this programme and hopefully bring thing caller and innovative to our assemblage to heighten nationalist safety."

The existent year's Cape Breton constabulary fund is astir $32.3 million.

The projected fund for the coming twelvemonth is up astir $1.7 cardinal to astir $34 million, oregon 5 per cent.

Just implicit $1 cardinal of the summation is for wages and benefits.

The remainder is for cameras, trunked mobile radios, different equipment, nonrecreational services, software, instrumentality leases and accrued forensic laboratory costs.

Commissioner Ken Tracey, a erstwhile CBRM councillor who was not re-elected past fall, said it was important to supply constabulary with the latest equipment.

"Without each these asks, we're conscionable falling down twelvemonth by twelvemonth by year," helium said.

"I cognize that the main and the unit bash a bang-up occupation protecting our CBRM and this is conscionable thing that is conscionable going to marque america that overmuch better."

Under a municipal unit reorganization, constabulary volition beryllium taking implicit the municipality's 911 telephone centre this year.

Walsh said an serviceman would beryllium stationed successful the centre, which volition assistance constabulary determine whether they request to be a telephone oregon not.

Cape Breton's constabulary fund volition present spell earlier the full assembly for changes oregon support by the extremity of the week.

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