Ottawa defence lawyers are calling for all police officers to be equipped with body cameras, supporting a call for the devices that was made by the Ottawa Police Association earlier this month.

While the police association argued that the cameras are needed to protect officers from frivolous lawsuits, the defence lawyers say the cameras would help protect citizens from police who abuse their authority.

"The most powerful piece of evidence in the Stacy Bonds case was the complete video record of what happened," said Matthew Weber, Bonds's lawyer.

In 2008, Bonds was arrested, kneed several times, pinned to the floor and had her clothes cut off by Ottawa police — all of which was captured on cellblock video.

Weber, along with the Defence Counsel Association of Ottawa, wants video evidence for all clients.

With cameras, "we don't have to debate what happened or what was said to the accused. We know, and thus fairness is inevitable," he said.