Okotoks Municipal Enforcement now has a tool to help them deal with numerous situations that may come their way.

The department has purchased body cameras that will be at the forefront of an active officer's uniform during their shift, recording every event that occurs on the job.

Municipal Enforcement Manager Tim Stobbs says the cameras are part of a pilot project they've just started on.

The body camera footage station at the Okotoks Municipal Enforcement office

"It gives a true representation, it's in HD, it works well in low light and it gives a pretty good idea of what the officer was actually seeing at the time of the event."

Stobbs says the cameras don't miss a thing when on patrol.

"It has no affiliation to anybody. It's inanimate and it only produces what actually occurred," he says. "So when you have a situation where one person says something like a 'he said, she said', we have actual independent evidence of what actually occurred."

The cameras, when on and activated, record a feed whether it's been recorded or not by the acting officer and Stobbs says that can be crucial when dealing with any particular case no matter the severity of it.

As manager of Municipal Enforcement, Stobbs has the ability at anytime or if asked upon to review any officer's camera footage to help with any case or any situation they may deal with.

"One of the criticisms has been 'Well the officer doesn't start the video then he's deliberately trying to have something come up' well now if somebody brings something up I can go back on that camera and back eight or ten hours on the camera and I can bring that event back up, record it and download it as an event."

The cameras were already installed in Municipal Enforcement vehicles but now Stobbs says they'll help in many cases and can be used as evidence during a trial if needed in certain events.

 

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