London Cops Begin Body Cameras Trial

Yesterday London’s Metropolitan
Police began a one-year trial of cameras being worn by
police. Five hundred of the Axon Body cameras, which record
audio and video, will be attached to the uniforms of officers
across 10 of London’s 32 boroughs.

London’s Metropolitan Police force are implementing the trial

after calls for increased transparency in the wake of police
shooting of Mark Duggan, which sparked riots across London and
other parts of the U.K. in 2011, as well as the force’s use of
Stop and
Search (sort of like a London equivalent of NYC’s Stop and
Frisk).

The footage from the cameras
will be stored for 31 days. Police are
required to state when the camera is recording.

According to Metropolitan Police’s website, smaller-scale camera
trials have resulted in
improved evidence and increased transparency. Commissioner Sir
Bernard Hogan-Howe said that people are more likely to plead guilty
if they know that police have been wearing cameras:

Improved evidence and increased transparency have already been
achieved thanks to officers wearing the cameras in previous
smaller-scale MPS trials. The footage can also demonstrate the
professionalism of our officers in the many difficult incidents
they face.

Commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, said: “Body-worn video
will not only help us fight crime and support victims but help the
Met to be more accountable.

“Our experience of using cameras already shows that people are
more likely to plead guilty when they know we have captured the
incident. That speeds up justice, puts offenders behind bars more
quickly and protects potential victims.

“Video captures events in a way that can’t be represented on
paper in the same detail and it has been shown the mere presence of
this type of video can often defuse potentially violent situations
without the need for force to be used.

“I believe it will also show our officers at their best, dealing
with difficult and dangerous situations every day but it will also
provide clearer evidence when its been alleged that we got things
wrong. That has to be in both our own and the public’s
interest.”

However, the Metropolitan Police also notes that the cameras
will be permanently turned on:

The cameras will not be permanently switched on to ensure our
interactions with the public are not unnecessarily impeded but
members of the public will be informed as soon as practical that
they are being recorded.

Earlier this year Reason TV’s Paul Detrick sat down with Steve
Ward, the CEO and founder of Vievu, a company that makes wearable
cameras for cops.

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