Body camera cost a key question

Police body cameras are coming to Winnipeg following years of debate and after the announcement of their forthcoming arrival in Brandon. Nearly half a million dollars will be spent in Brandon to equip Brandon police officers with body cameras, which are expected to roll out in Brandon next month.

Winnipeg Police Service Chief Gene Bowers announced last week that the Winnipeg Police Service will trial the cameras in June. Forty front-line officers are expected to test the devices. Chief Bowers suggested that any potential costs to eventually implement a body camera program would be “dramatically” lower in 2026. But evidence suggests otherwise.

Brandonites ought to pay close attention to the Winnipeg trial, since the Brandon Police Service is using the same body camera vendor that will supply the Winnipeg police, American company Axon Enterprise.

One of the major reasons for the years-long delay in equipping police in Manitoba’s two largest cities with body-worn cameras (BWCs) was the matter of cost.

Earlier this year, Brandon Police Board chair Deb Arpin referred to the 2026 police budget as “bare bones.”

Attempts in Winnipeg to roll out body cameras have stalled for a decade. A body camera pilot was approved by the Winnipeg Police Board in 2015 but cancelled due to budgetary concerns. In 2021, Winnipeg City Council voted against increasing the police budget to equip the service with body cameras because of the high cost.

Budgetary constraints continue to remain a significant issue for Brandon and Winnipeg. So, why are Winnipeg police piloting the devices again in 2026?

One reason is because Axon Enterprise has reportedly agreed to freely supply its products to Winnipeg police for a trial. Offering free products on a limited basis is consistent with Axon’s strategy to convert police agencies into long-term paying customers.

In 2017, Axon offered free body cameras and related software services to all police in Canada for an entire year.

The company reported that “many” agencies started pilots, including the Durham Regional Police Service in Ontario. Axon currently has contracts with numerous Canadian police agencies including the Toronto Police Service and RCMP.

Another reason for the 2026 pilot in Winnipeg is that Chief Bowers seems to think a body camera program will now cost less, while simultaneously acknowledging having no estimated cost to equip all front-line officers with the devices, remarking “the technology has advanced so much. Like anything, the prices go down.” However, body camera programs are expensive, causing some police agencies to discontinue their programs.

Axon acquired its “No. 2 competitor” in 2018. An antitrust class-action lawsuit is pending against Axon. Plaintiffs that include government officials and municipalities, represented by U.S. law firm Cohen Milstein, allege “that Axon unlawfully monopolized the BWC” market claiming “governments and agencies have overpaid substantially for BWC systems [and] that the prices Axon charges for BWC systems have shot up astronomically as a result” of the 2018 merger. According to Cohen Milstein, Axon’s reported gross margins on body cameras have since increased “nearly fourfold.”

Furthermore, using public information like financial disclosures, a July 2025 American Bar Association antitrust law section summary found that “Axon’s prices and margins increased after the merger, no new competitors have entered the market, and existing competitors have failed to expand their market presence.” Axon has near complete control over the global body camera market and concerns remain that the Canadian policing and justice system is being monopolized by a single American corporation motived by sales and profits.

Then there remains the simple matter of cost versus public benefit. “It’s about accountability and transparency,” Chief Bowers said of the body camera pilot. Brandon Police Service Chief Tyler Bates has made similar unsubstantiated claims.

Equipping police with body cameras alone will not create more transparency or accountability. Transparency in a Canadian context is already extremely limited given that most body camera video is never reviewed by police or ever seen by taxpaying citizens because federal privacy legislation generally restricts its public release. Furthermore, a review of the academic research concerning police accountability, what it is and how to do it, reveals that the idea of police accountability is fraught with many limitations and is inconsistency effective.

Given that police in Manitoba’s two largest cities seem determined to implement permanent body camera programs, and that taxpayers will subsidize these programs, it is imperative that the selection of the body camera program vendor be subject to an open call for tender to ensure the best price for service.

Additionally, in the interest of transparency, Chief Bowers should at the very least provide evidence that the prices have gone down for body cameras so that Winnipeggers know how much this is going to cost them.

» Christopher J. Schneider is a professor of sociology at Brandon University. His most recent book (with Erick Laming) is “Police Body-Worn Cameras: Media and the New Discourse of Police Reform” (Routledge, 2026).