The Hamilton Police Service (HPS) officially deployed its body-worn camera rollout in 2025, with Chief of Police Frank Bergen saying that the program has already demonstrated “positive outcomes.”
HPS undertook a review on the possible implementation of body-worn cameras back in 2014, but it was not until 2024 that the Police Services Board approved a plan to purchase 500 Axon Body-4 Body-Worn Camera units.
Debates before the decision often centred around cost, but the board moved ahead with the plan despite a $9.6 million price tag over five years.
HPS also had to hire digital evidence clerks, a technician, and a program coordinator.
The program carries $1.97 million in up-front costs with about $1.93 million per year in operating costs between 2026 and 2029.
With the rollout, HPS developed a policy framework and a training program.
Deployment of the cameras started in March 2025, with mandatory four-hour training sessions provided to members.
Complementary training sessions were also offered to civilian staff and external justice partners, including Crown Attorneys, Municipal Prosecutors, and Police Services Board members.
Police say that the rollout included front-line patrol officers and specialized units, including the Social Navigator Unit, Mobile Crisis Rapid Response Team, K-9 Unit, and Marine Unit.
By the end of May, they say 400 cameras had been deployed, and by the end of 2025, that number was up to 469 cameras in active use.
Bergen says that the program has already demonstrated “positive outcomes,” particularly when it comes to evidence collection and “enhanced transparency and accountability within the City of Hamilton and its community.”
HPS adds that “comprehensive statistical reporting is forthcoming” and that a full analysis of the body-worn camera program will be provided in the fall of 2026.
The police service is also evaluating whether the cameras can be used by the Emergency Response Unit (ERU), a team which handles high-risk situations.
The HPS Human Capital Plan also includes the purchase of 68 additional cameras in 2026 “to support anticipated staffing increases and potential expansion into units not covered in the initial rollout.”
HPS policy requires body-worn camera activation during all investigative and enforcement activities, but there are also additional automatic triggers, such as light-bar activation, prisoner-door openings, and Conducted Energy Weapon testing.
Since March 10, 2025, officers have generated 282,855 body-worn camera recordings, 141,216 of which have been retained “under evidentiary and operational retention requirements.”
Since the program launch, a total of 5,303 cases have been disclosed to courts, comprised of 18,260 body-worn camera files.
Thanks to a provincial grant, HPS already has integrated Automated Licence Plate Readers and in-car camera systems on 78 patrol vehicles, which are also used for evidence collection.
HPS will be conducting “more extensive community engagement” about the program launch after the first full year.
They add that their “rapid implementation” of the body-worn camera program has also “generated national interest, resulting in invitations to share deployment strategies with police organizations across Canada.”
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
