Last year, Star readers identified improving police accountability through lapel cameras as one of their top 10 big ideastop 10 big ideas. This week, we check in on what progress has been made.

In the summer of 2012, Tyrone Phillips was allegedly beaten unconscious by a group of Toronto police outside a downtown nightclub. His grievance would later be dismissed by Ontario’s police watchdog.

“If the officers had been wearing body cameras, there would have been no altercation,” Phillips says. “What I’ve been through, it makes me skeptical of all officers.”

Whether it be the shooting death of Sammy Yatim or cases like Phillips’, controversial encounters between police and the public in recent years have left some Torontonians wary of those who serve and protect. But officer-worn lapel cameras have been touted as a simple solution to building bridges.

Cameras are a growing trend in policing — a low-cost yet high-reward way to promote trust and protect both the public and police by encouraging mutual civility. In Toronto, the idea of introducing body-worn cameras gained traction with a 2013 use-of-force review. Mayor John Tory supported the initiative during his 2014 campaign.

Since May, roughly 100 frontline officers across the city have been wearing cameras in a $500,000 pilot project that will run until March. Once the pilot has been completed, a final analysis will be crafted from police and community feedback, at which point recommendations will be made to Chief Mark Saunders as to whether the project should be expanded.

“I don’t think that the discussion any longer is whether or not it’s going to necessarily have a huge impact on the way police officers do business, but it’s become part of the public and political psyche that they want to see police officers wear cameras, and that’s the new reality,” says Toronto Police Association president Mike McCormack. He adds that officers in his union are fine with the cameras so long as they’re not used as a management tool.

“Whatever the data shows, regardless, we feel that those cameras will be issued to all frontline officers anyhow.”

Three camera models are being tested by on-duty officers from the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS) Rapid Response Teams, Traffic Services, 55 Division’s Primary Response Unit and 43 Division’s Community Response Unit. The cameras are kept on standby until an officer responds to a call or is investigating an individual, at which point they are turned on. Officers have been instructed to keep the cameras off during informal conversations with the public, though some people, such as former Toronto Police Services Board chair Alok Mukherjee, would like to see them kept on during such interactions. The data from the cameras is stored for at least a year.

Many welcome the introduction of lapel cameras, but they do raise concerns about privacy.

“(D)one correctly, police-worn body cameras can be a powerful tool of accountability,” Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) executive director told the Star via email.

“It is important that they are used subject to strict protocols on use and privacy — including notice to individuals, and access, storage and destruction criteria — and that they are never used as a tool of mass surveillance.”

How and when the cameras will be used is still a matter of debate.

The mayor’s office remains supportive. “There are a number of questions that the mayor has which he believes will be addressed through the pilot project such as when are they turned on, when are they turned off, training implications and privacy,” a spokesperson told the Star. “The mayor looks forward to the recommendations that come out of the pilot project in 2016.”

After his experiences, Phillips would like to see all Toronto police officers outfitted with the devices.

“[Body cameras] will really change what their attitude is, and what they do and how they talk.”

The cameras, Phillips adds, should be rolling at all times.

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“There are so many things that they could say to have an excuse not to use it properly,” he adds. “They need to be held accountable.”

Police are asking for feedback from members of the public who have interacted with camera-wearing officers. You can get in touch with Community Safety Command at 416-808-7739.