POLL: Should body cameras be mandatory for all RCMP officers?

Canadians joined the world in reaction to a Minneapolis police officer killing George Floyd, but there are many recent instances in Canada that had far less of an impact because we didn't see what happened.

Chantel Moore, an Indigenous woman from Vancouver Island, was shot and killed by RCMP officers in Edmunston, N.B. who were doing a 'wellness check'.

A review has been ordered into RCMP actions in using a vehicle to hit and knock down a subject in Nunavut.

Closer to home, three Prince George RCMP officers have been charged with assault with a weapon or assault causing bodily harm from a February, 2016 arrest and a Kelowna RCMP officer is under an internal investigation after video of an arrest showed him striking a man several times in the face.

We don't know what really happened in many of these cases, nor do we know if police are actually culpable, but that's part of the point, if it can clear good cops of bad accusations. A West Kelowna woman has nearly 24,000 people on a petition asking government to make body cameras mandatory and while the same suggestion has been made many times before, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said yesterday he agreed and has spoken with the RCMP Commissioner about it.

But we want to know your thoughts. Let us know in the poll below. 


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Marshall Jones

News is best when it's local, relevant, timely and interesting. That's our focus every day.

We are on the ground in Penticton, Vernon, Kelowna and Kamloops to bring you the stories that matter most.

Marshall may call West Kelowna home, but after 16 years in local news and 14 in the Okanagan, he knows better than to tell readers in other communities what is "news' to them. He relies on resident reporters to reflect their own community priorities and needs. As the newsroom leader, his job is making those reporters better, ensuring accuracy, fairness and meeting the highest standards of journalism.