Founder of the Saint John Black Lives Matter Movement, Matthew Martin. (Photo: Ben Burnett)
The Saint John Police Force has said front-line officers will be equipped with body cameras by the end of this year, but have not announced a plan to publicly unveil the usage policy.
In an open letter to the force, Black Lives Matter New Brunswick called on city police to delay the program’s rollout until that information has been made public.
“We’ve given the police force the benefit of the doubt. We’ve given them their chance to step up, and I think they’re not taking advantage,” says BLM NB Founder Matthew Martin. “Now, we need to really start pushing them to be accountable.”
Martin is calling the force to unveil not just its body camera usage policy, but also the policy for its armoured vehicle, Rescue One, and the use of force policy.
“They say the (body cameras) are a step for transparency,” Martin said. “So then, release these policies, put them out into the public eye. Show that we have nothing to hide.”
In a statement to the CHSJ newsroom, police Spokesperson Jim Hennessy said the force “understands the interest and concerns” around the body camera policy.
“At this time, the policy is still being evaluated,” the statement reads. “SJPF thanks the community and residents for their patience as we strive to launch the new technology to ensure another layer of improving public and officer safety, increasing transparency and further enhancing the forces investigative abilities.”
Martin says he understands there are certain things the police can’t make public, including operational information such as where officers are located or patrol routes. But he says the questions they want answers to are not operational in nature.
“So I have to ask, what are they hiding?”
City Mayor Don Darling agrees with Martin and the BLM NB group. He announced Monday evening he would be asking the police commission to delay the rollout of the body cameras until after a public policy has been released.
Due to a lack of space at Tuesday evening’s police commission meeting, the open session was adjourned and Darling’s motion has been delayed to another date.
In order to maintain and build public trust, we must be a model of transparency and openness. This is a motion that I'll be presenting at tomorrows Police Commission meeting, for inclusion on the agenda. #open #Transparent #publicengagement.https://t.co/kRzjs9xJ6H pic.twitter.com/ibweuRbVgN
— Don Darling (@dondarlingSJ) November 10, 2020
Personally, Martin doesn’t believe body cameras are a step toward transparency. He says incidents like the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which prompted the outpouring of BLM demonstrations earlier this year, show that filming an incident doesn’t necessarily lead to justice being served.
“Police have been filmed on cell phones. What’s the difference now in police that have a body camera?” Martin said. “If we look across the country, or the world, instances of where these body cameras malfunction or they turn off pop up all the time.”
Prior to sending the open letter, the BLM group said it had open communication with the force, including help hosting its June rally in the wake of global demonstrations in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
However, they have not heard anything from the force when it comes to the use of the new body cameras.
“There’s still aspects where there’s open lines of communication, but at the same time we need to keep police accountable,” Martin said. “When they say they’re doing something and not actually doing it, that’s where we can’t just say ‘they’re doing what they can.’ In this situation, they are not doing what they can.”
“If they truly wanted to be transparent they would release the policies for how they do a lot of things.”
