Turning body cameras on

All will welcome last week’s launch of a test programme involving sixty cameras. In theory these items can assist the Police Service in assessing: the quality of hotspot patrols; the use of force by police officers whilst out on duty; firearm discharge by police officers; injuries caused to police officers during police civilian interactions; and injuries caused to civilians during police civilian interactions. All of these are matters which, as noted by Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams, go to the integrity and credibility of the force itself.

For too long the service has been dogged by instances of civilian deaths, complaints about corruption as well as the actions of rogue cops. Body cameras, if properly used, will not only catch the bad apples that spoil the bunch, but they will demonstrate how people are interacting with the police. They shield civilians and officers alike.

However, this is only the case if these cameras are consistently and universally used. While we welcome the test pilot involving sixty cameras, we hope the Police Service will be able to roll-out a far more comprehensive program eventually. A “national level study” is something that sounds good. But we know enough to know that the Service must go further. It should not and cannot use the notion of conducting research as a fig leaf to delay universal implementation.

Furthermore, a policy must be developed with regard to the use of these cameras during joint police/army patrols. Will soldiers also have to wear these cameras when accompanying police officers? If not, is this not a large gap in coverage? Joint police/army patrols are used for serious threats to peace and order and therefore it would seem the need for an objective record of events is even more urgent in these circumstances.

A rule and procedure must also be developed making use of the cameras compulsory and forbidding arbitrary cut-off and/or tampering. At the launch event last week, Williams addressed the issue of police officers turning the cameras on and off saying the Police Service is trying to allow their experiment to run with the cameras being on all the time with the exception of an officer going to the restroom.

It is essential that these cameras are operational at all times during all official police duties and operations. While it stands to reason that an officer is entitled to some degree of bodily privacy, great care must be taken in formulating rules governing when and how a police officer should disengage.

Many will agree that an officer should be allowed privacy in a bathroom inside a police station.

But if an officer apprehends a suspect in a public restroom, then the situation calls for more thought. Every rule has the potential to be abused.

Internationally, the experience thus far has shown the perils of allowing cameras to be switched off. The recent police shooting of Australian national Justine Damond has caused outrage in the US and beyond (the Minneapolis police chief has resigned) due to the lack of body-camera footage.

In that incident, Damond had reported suspicious activity and then ended up dead.

At stake is the credibility of our national Police Service, still reeling from a spate of civilian killings and unanswered questions surrounding the infamous day of Total Policing in 2015.

For now, we welcome the arrival of these cameras on the scene and express the hope that their implementation will be a success and will, in the long-run, make a big difference