Cop: Body cams still in infancy

Daniel said that while 60 body cameras were issued to officers in Northern Division, several are in need of servicing.

He also revealed that of the 12 police stations in Northern Division, only three - St Joseph, Tunapuna and Pinto Road - were selected to participate in the pilot body cam project.

“At the moment we have assigned a camera to one senior officer on active patrol. We were not given enough cameras to supply more and there are several issues we had with them...but our technical team is working on that aspect,” Daniel said.

In other policing news, Daniel drew a correlation between an increase in the number of illegal firearms seized this year to an improved detection rate and reduction in murders.

He said that between January 1 to September 13, 123 firearms were seized within Northern Division, a 48% increase for the same period last year.

This improvement, he said, was accompanied by a decrease in the number of murders by 17% and an increase in the detection rate by 21% within his Division. He credited the improvement in crime-fighting to a more innovative and community-based approach to policing which seeks greater dialogue between police and the public.