320 MORE COP CAMS TO CATCH DRUNK, DANGEROUS DRIVERS (VERNON gets 7)

NEW WESTMINSTER – The Province will spend $1.8 million to more than triple the number of in-car police cameras across B.C. to back more impaired and dangerous driving charges with indisputable evidence, Solicitor General John van Dongen announced today.The new cameras will bring to approximately 450 the number of patrol-car cameras across B.C., with 260 new units to be installed in RCMP traffic-duty vehicles and 60 in vehicles used by the Province’s 11 independent municipal police departments to promote road safety. Last April, the ministry funded the purchase and installation of 33 in-car cameras for use by independent departments, complementing the approximately 100 then in use by RCMP Traffic Services and Integrated Road Safety Units.The patrol-car cameras will cost about $7,300 each installed. Police agencies will cover the minimal operating costs.

B.C.’s 320 new traffic-duty vehicle cameras offer many state-of-the-art features that will make policing safer and protect the integrity of the footage recorded. The technical standards of the police-vehicle cameras far exceed those of regular, consumer-quality digital cameras. The in-car cameras:

· Are protected in a maximum-security, fire- and bulletproof vault that withstands the shock, vibration, dust and temperature extremes of a police-car environment.

· Offer a 40:1 zoom ratio, very sharp images, superior colour, night-video capability and a backlight feature that provides better visibility in poor lighting conditions.

· Can record up to 90 hours of real-time video, with a unique time code on each frame.

· Record to encased DVD-RAM discs, which protect data better than do standard DVDs.

· Automatically begin recording when emergency equipment is activated and when a police vehicle is involved in a collision. Officers can also activate a camera while inside their vehicle or remotely through a wireless microphone.

The Province is basing distribution of the new in-car cameras on police operations budgets and the number of traffic unit members and traffic enforcement vehicles that RCMP units and independent municipal police departments have. The new in-car cameras will focus on impaired and dangerous driving enforcement, so the number of cameras allocated to individual police agencies will reflect the resources they direct toward traffic safety.

The table below summarizes where the new cameras are going.

RCMP Provincial Traffic Units (Local only shown)
Chetwynd Highway Patrol 2
Dawson Creek Highway Patrol 2
Central Interior Traffic Services – Kamloops 1
Central Okanagan Traffic Services – Kelowna 7
North Okanagan Traffic Services – Vernon 4

RCMP Municipal Traffic Units
Kamloops City Traffic 4
Kelowna Municipal Traffic 5
Penticton Municipal Traffic 2
Vernon Municipal Traffic 3