RCMP in our province say more and more Manitobans are submitting dash cam footage, and it is having a significant impact.
Corporal Jeffrey McIntosh is a member of the Collision Reconstruction Unit. He says these recordings are invaluable for investigations. McIntosh says dash cams provide a better perspective of traffic incidents, helping them recreate collisions accurately.
"They're very helpful for us in that sense," says McIntosh. "It gives us a firsthand view of what happened. The issue we run into is how do we identify the driver of that vehicle. That is where it becomes a little more troublesome in terms of reporting crimes. But they're definitely very handy."
According to McIntosh, dash cams are becoming common in both commercial and personal vehicles. He notes that when arriving at a collision scene, one of the first questions asked is if there is dash cam footage.
"There are different models, different avenues of recording, whether they're a cloud version or an SD card version," he explains. "One of the first things I ask is if this was on recording and we'll pursue that if need be. Two weeks ago, I was up at a collision and one of the involved vehicles had a dash cam, and it showed [the accident] from the first moment right to the end results. They are very, very helpful in determining what happened, and to correspond evidence of what we find on the road to evidence that is seen in the film. It can confirm everything as one complete event."
For those with dash cams, the Corporal asks that footage be unaltered.
"When it comes to reporting crimes, obviously the high-quality picture is better, and the more of the file the better," he says. "We don't want an edited version. We might want to see the 30 seconds before the event as well as the event, to be able to capture the whole event. The worst thing you can have is that you only catch the event, and you don't know what happened prior to that. So, the more data we can get, the better."
Most dash cam footage is voluntarily submitted, which greatly aids the RCMP. McIntosh appreciates this cooperation, emphasizing how it helps answer critical questions in investigations.
"If you've got that video evidence, even for us or for MPI, you can't question that, right?" he says. "It's open and shut. It definitely protects you when it comes to finding fault and liability."