OFFICERS should always be able to view body-worn cameras footage before giving witness statements, including in death and injury cases, the Police Federation conference has heard.<\/p>\n
But Doug Campbell, of the Police Federation, warned officers must be treated fairly and not be \u201clambasted\u201d for the contents of the footage.\u00a0Currently, officers involved in death and injury cases are not allowed to view footage from their own body-worn cameras before they give their initial witness statement.<\/p>\n
Mr Campbell said: \u201cDeath and serious injury can happen anywhere, at any time. Our members don\u2019t go out there to deliberately harm the public.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have to be confident that they will be treated fairly and it makes sense that they should see the footage before they give evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also warned that the service cannot be left behind as technology continues to advance.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWe need body-worn cameras for the public good and the good of our members \u2013 it\u2019s a no-brainer. But there has been a rise in technology and the police service has been behind the curve.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no point buying a product that could be out of date in six months. We have 43 budgets, 43 purseholders and competing pressures. There has to be a better way for forces to work collectively. We need this technology or we are going to get left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hampshire Chief Constable Andy Marsh, who is the national lead on body worn video, announced that he is deploying cameras to 2,800 frontline staff who will benefit from it.<\/p>\n
And he said the public should be able to see how \u201crough and difficult\u201d policing can be.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cPolicing is not a game or a memory test but the way we expect people giving evidence to behave, it seems like it is a memory test. It is police officers\u2019 independent witness.<\/p>\n
\u201cOfficers in Hampshire have described it as the best bit of kit they\u2019ve ever been given. And we encourage officers to give commentary to explain what they\u2019re doing and why they\u2019re doing it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do society and the police no service when we seek to gentrify policing, it is rough it is difficult. Clips [from body-worn cameras] open their eyes to how difficult and impressive the work of the police is. And we should let public see how difficult it is.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are shocked and stunned, and impressed with the professionalism of our officers. It opens a window onto human nature \u2013 the worst and the best. It shows the compassion and bravery of our people on the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we are going to have fewer people, those fewer people have to be well equipped, well led and supported by appropriate technology.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sgt Adam Smith, Firearms Training Manager at the Met, warned officers to be aware of perceptual distortion \u2013 where officers in high-stress situations perceive situations differently because the brain only processes information to help them decide how to behave or act appropriately rather than recording events like a video.<\/p>\n
He told delegates: \u201cHaving body-worn video from officers\u2019 perception would back up what they are seeing. Video can\u2019t replace an officer\u2019s honestly held belief built on experience, training and situational awareness.<\/p>\n
\u201cBody-worn video can only supplement an officer\u2019s statement \u2013 it can\u2019t be primary evidence. We cannot substitute the personal experience of the officer writing the statement.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OFFICERS should always be able to view body-worn cameras footage before giving witness statements, including in death and injury cases, the Police Federation conference has heard. But Doug Campbell, of\u2026 read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221,"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219\/revisions\/221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}