{"id":65266,"date":"2026-05-28T21:07:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T21:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/65266\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T21:07:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T21:07:18","slug":"calgary-police-first-to-use-real-time-translation-tool-on-body-worn-cameras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/65266\/","title":{"rendered":"Calgary police first to use real-time translation tool on body-worn cameras"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Calgary Police Service<\/a> will begin using a real-time translation feature on all body-worn cameras starting June 1, making it the first police agency in Canada to employ the technology, officials say.<\/p>\n

Police Chief Katie McLellan said the feature can automatically detect more than 60 languages and will be available on every Calgary police body-worn camera.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited to have (this) new feature,\u201d McLellan told reporters following Wednesday\u2019s police commission meeting. \u201cWhen our police officers are interacting with individuals that speak a different language, we\u2019re able to push on our body worn camera what language it is that needs to be interpreted and that will be translated in real time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s included in the body worn cameras that we have, and it\u2019s just an extra tool that we\u2019ve been able to switch on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calgary police commission chair Amtul Siddiqui said the feature will improve communication between officers and community members.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything that we can do from a service or commission level to be more inclusive in the city that we serve \u2014 that\u2019s fantastic,\u201d Siddiqui said. \u201cI\u2019m super excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to be great not only for community members but for officers as well, because it provides that back-and-forth communication and evidence as well,\u201d the commission chair added.<\/p>\n

Sally Zhao, president and CEO of The Immigrant Education Society, said the tool should allow for better interactions between diverse communities and police officers by minimizing miscommunication tied to language barriers.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

A Calgary police officer with a body worn camera on Thursday, September 10, 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think this is a very positive step toward clearer, safer, inclusive interactions between police officers and diverse communities, especially newcomers,\u201d Zhao said. \u201cAny tools which can help people to communicate in a respectful, clearer way is welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zhao said many newcomers are hesitant to report incidents to police because of language barriers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this real time translation, we do think it will make the clients feel more comfortable in communicating with police officers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Still, Zhao said the technology should not replace human judgement, and safeguards should be in place to monitor the accuracy of translations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to add another layer of miscommunication (or) misunderstanding,\u201d she said. \u201cTechnology is a tool. It never should replace human judgment and cultural competency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police would not provide an exact dollar figure for the initiative but said the feature is to cost several hundred thousand dollars over a five-year contract with Axon, the force\u2019s supplier of body-worn cameras.<\/p>\n

Deputy Chief Cory Daley said police share concerns about privacy related to the use of artificial intelligence on body-worn cameras.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny kind of use of technology that moves this fast, we need to ensure that we have the appropriate governance and human moderation in line with that,\u201d Daley said.<\/p>\n

Daley said CPS has a \u201crobust\u201d governance process for new technology to ensure public trust, transparency and \u201cbias-free implementation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll continue to adapt and adopt new processes as the technology enhances and moves along through the process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Catch up with the day\u2019s headlines, curated by our editors and delivered to your email inbox at lunchtime on every business day. Sign up now for the Calgary Herald Noon News Roundup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Calgary Police Service will begin using a real-time translation feature on all body-worn cameras starting June 1,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[27678,27680,27677,51,341,27681,27679,27682,4252,11106,27683],"class_list":["post-65266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-amtul-siddiqui","tag-body-worn-camera","tag-body-worn-cameras","tag-calgary","tag-calgary-police-service","tag-chief-constable","tag-katie-mclellan","tag-language-barriers","tag-police-commission","tag-police-officers","tag-real-time-translation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}