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Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada says she wants to soon equip all police officers with body cameras.
Martinez Ferrada made the announcement in a news conference Friday morning. The news was first reported by La Presse.
The city will equip 3,500 police officers with body cameras and approximately 600 patrol vehicles with vehicular cameras and automated licence plate readers.
In January, Martinez Ferrada’s administration set aside $40 million in its first municipal budget for body cameras, following up on her election promise.
The move comes as the police service aims to build community trust following allegations of racial profiling by a group of officers in the city’s north end.
The allegations involving officers in the city’s Montréal-Nord borough were made public in June, when he revealed that 16 officers at Station 39 were being investigated for racist and hateful acts allegedly committed against Black and Arab people during police stops.
On Aug. 11, Dagher said three officers had since been suspended and the investigation was ongoing.
Earlier this week, a Quebec coroner’s report into the death of a 29-year-old man during a police intervention recommended officers wear body cameras
More to come.