Mounties in the Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo region are now wearing body-worn cameras on the job.
Chief superintendent Mark Hancock said in a statement that the cameras will help build accountability and public trust. He also said they would resolve quickly public complaints against police, improve interactions between officers and people, and build on evidence gathering. The cameras entered service in the region on May 26, 2025.
“I always tell our detachment members to work as they are being recorded and to do the right thing at all times. We have had in-car video for years and this is an expansion of that system that we also continue to use.”
All Mounties in the region have undergone specific training for wearing and using the cameras. Officers, when possible, will tell people when they are being recorded. The cameras must remain on in situations involving the safety of the public or police, or if the footage has investigational value.
The RCMP says this could include mental health calls, interactions with people in crisis, crimes in progress, during investigations, public disorder and protests, and recording information to support an officer’s duties.
Privacy-related issues are part of this training. This includes identifying places and situations where it is inappropriate to turn on the camera. They will not be used for surveillance, intimate searches or 24-hour recordings. The RCMP said in April that by this time next year, 90 per cent of frontline officers will have body-worn cameras.
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