Facial recognition proof of concept
Up to 50 officers; automatic “Silent Mode”; later review by trained officers.
Preserved EPS release ↗
A coast-to-coast authorization atlas
One city at a time.
One network in the end?
A local council hears about a local safety risk. It funds a local tool. Repeat that decision more than 200 times, and ask what the tools become when they can connect.
01 / THE SYSTEM BOUNDARY
The camera is a node.
The network is the system.
Local concern“We have a security risk.”
→
Local purchaseCamera, cloud, licence.
→
Shared platformAccounts, alerts, identifiers.
→
Network capacityNo single national vote.
Local approval and network integration can happen at different layers. This project follows both: what each community was told, and where its data, searches, alerts and permissions can travel afterward.
02 / LEAD CASE
Edmonton, Alberta
Start where the experiment and the chiefs converge.
Why Edmonton leads
EPS publicly described itself as the first police service in the world to test Axon facial recognition through body-worn video. Edmonton then hosted the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police’s 2026 Annual Summit and policing trade show.
Chiefs’ summit + trade show
The CACP prospectus names EPS as host at the Edmonton Convention Centre.
CACP prospectus ↗What travelled next?
Track demonstrations, sponsors, delegates, shared policy, pilots and later contracts.
See the test ↘02A / EDMONTON EVIDENCE LEDGER
Finding 01
Edmonton is already inside more than one network.
The public record identifies an existing biometric data connection with Calgary, a province-directed common evidence platform, and a police-vendor knowledge circuit carrying Edmonton’s model to other police leaders. These are different networks with different evidence states.
EPS⇄NEC NeoFace⇄Calgary Police
EPS says NeoFace Reveal works with the EPS and Calgary Police Service mugshot database, enabling both services to share data securely. Alberta’s privacy commissioner later described the EPS initiative as connecting to the CPS network.
EPS facial-recognition record ↗Alberta→Common BWV + DEMS→Agencies + Crown
Edmonton’s approved 2026 budget says Alberta selected a standardized camera and evidence-management vendor for use across agencies and the Crown. EPS had delayed expansion to support future integrations. The record establishes the common architecture, not every live connection.
City budget, page 48 ↗EPS+Axon+Technology North→CACP
A 2026 CACP technology summit session presented the EPS, Axon and Technology North redaction partnership as a scalable policing model. EPS also hosted the CACP annual summit and policing trade show in Edmonton.
Preserved CACP program ↗Capability register
What the record establishes today
States apply to Edmonton only. “Unknown” means the decisive public record has not been obtained.
02B / REGINA EVIDENCE LEDGER
Finding 02
Quoted is not purchased.
Connected is not assumed.
Regina shows why the seven evidence states matter. Axon supplied body-camera prices in 2021, but the obtained record does not establish a purchase. Other systems are documented as used, with different boundaries and controls.
RPS←Axon estimate→Board review
Axon provided three five-year estimates for 120 devices. The Board asked for more research, policy work and consultation. No obtained record establishes a contract, licence, test or deployment.
Preserved Board report PO21-38 ↗Residents→Vendor registry→RPS request
The vendor-hosted registry tells RPS where cameras may exist. RPS says registration gives police no live access, footage remains voluntary, and other police agencies cannot access the registry.
RPS registry record ↗IEIS→User query→Audit
RPS documented unauthorized searches, privacy investigations and new audits. In February 2026 it said a mandatory reason field was unavailable and would require custom vendor work.
Chief's public response ↗Authorization timeline
What Regina's record establishes
Each entry separates a quote, decision, configuration, use or unresolved state.
Capability register
State, not implication
“Unknown” remains published when no decisive contract, configuration or access record has been obtained.
03 / NATIONAL INVENTORY
Every reported municipal jurisdiction is visible.
Technology evidence is a separate layer.
The census is complete for the 2025 Statistics Canada municipal table. Edmonton and Regina have evidence ledgers; the remaining jurisdictions are explicitly queued for technology research.
222reported municipal and contract-policed jurisdictions
Source: Statistics Canada Table 35-10-0077-01, 2025 reference year. Rows without a reported officer total and terminated series are excluded. “Census only” means the jurisdiction is verified in the national table but its technology ledger is not yet researched; it does not mean no technology exists.
04 / THE LEDGER
Seven states. No shortcuts.
A product can exist without being purchased. A licence can exist without being enabled. A test can end without deployment. Every capability is tracked through distinct states.
AVAILABLEPROPOSEDCONTRACTEDLICENSEDTESTEDENABLEDUSED
What problem and purpose were presented?
Who funded, governed, procured and activated?
Term, modules, updates, sharing and exit rights.
What settings and connections were actually live?
Who could contribute, search, receive or retain?
Can a person discover, correct, challenge or delete?
06 / METHOD & LIMITS
Connected is a claim.
We show the connection.
Documented
A source identifies access, sharing, federation, a common watchlist, cross-jurisdiction query or data flow.
Capable
Architecture or terms permit connection, but local activation has not been established.
Unknown
The decisive contract, configuration, access log or agreement has not been obtained.
This is a living public-interest research project, not a claim that every compatible system is connected. Edmonton and Regina are the first documented ledgers. Every national conclusion must be earned from jurisdiction records. When an official source disappears, the project links a dated preserved copy and labels it as preserved.