£33m Highland video camera rollout to give police ‘more confidence’

THE £33 million video camera rollout to Highland police officers will allow cops to “have more confidence in how they act” as well - it is hoped - reduce assaults against officers.

Today (June 17), Police Scotland rolled out body-worn cameras to around 400 officers across the region, with road policing officers and dog handlers to be equipped in the coming weeks.

The technology was demonstrated at an event in Dingwall earlier today.

The Highlands and Islands is the second division in Scotland to deploy the cameras following their introduction in Tayside last March.

Over the next 18 months, there will be a gradual increase in officers with body-worn video cameras across Scotland.

PC Dan Sutherland, best known as Wildlife Dan from BBC series Highland Cops, shared how the body camera will impact his work. He said: “It will absolutely make police more safe, particularly for me, since I work alone quite often. I would hope it would lower any undesirable behaviour from people.

“For example, when you work alone and go onto land you can quite often find that land owners will be very unhappy you are there. It becomes tense very quickly, and you have to work hard to bring people down and explain why you’re there. As soon as they know they are being recorded, I would hope that in most cases the fret level will lower. That happens quite a lot when I’m working alone.

“It’s not like having an extra person by your side but it’s something to support me.”

Every frontline uniformed police officer, including special constables, will be expected to wear a video camera on their uniform while on duty and to activate it when using police powers, whether a stop and search, an arrest of a suspect or executing a search warrant.

Police staff in custody suites will also use cameras when interacting with people in custody.

Chief Superintendent Rob Shepherd explained: “The cameras will have a huge number of benefits. They allow our officers to have more confidence in how they act, and it will make things more transparent.

“Evidence can be caught on camera, and later used in court. You are more likely to get guilty pleas from defendants when you have footage showing the offence being committed — saving the courts time.”

The footage may be used as evidence, but it will not replace existing procedures and requirements when gathering all available information. It will remain a matter for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) to review and determine competence on a case-by-case basis.

Video footage will be uploaded to secure police systems and the evidence will be shared with the COPFS using the new Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) system.

The superintendent continued: “The safety of officers is also a really important factor. It’s been shown academically and across the UK that officers are less likely to be assaulted if they are wearing a camera. We do have quite a high rate of assaults on police in the Highland area, so it’s really important for officers to have that added layer of protection.

“Part of our operating procedure is that we need to be really transparent and ethical with our use of body-worn video. So as well as them being really obvious, it is informing people that they are being recorded on body-worn video.

“There are complaints made against police every day in the UK, from minor things to more serious allegations. Body-worn video is just another way that allows us to capture that, and deal with it appropriately.”

Approved by the Home Office, more than 10,500 Motorola Solutions VB400 cameras will be issued to frontline officers, and have a lifespan of at least three years.

“The overall cost of £33 million: it’s not just about buying the cameras — there’s all of the training, policies, procedures, ethical considerations… it’s a huge project.

“Footage that is taken, but not needed, is deleted from the cloud after 31 days. Other footage is kept for different periods of time depending on what the footage captures — ten years for a minor offence, or up to 100 years for a very serious offence.”

The superintendent went on to confirm that it is up to the individual officer to decide if the footage needs to be deleted, by tagging it appropriately.

It was also confirmed that if the body-worn video camera was stolen from a police officer, the footage would be lost. However, a spokesperson said that in other UK regions it has not arisen as a common issue.