Britain | Police cameras

Kojak moments

Cops get new eyes and ears

ON THE mean streets of the Isle of Wight, police are testing a new toy. Pinned to the chest of each officer is a miniature video camera, about the size of a cigarette packet, designed to capture their interactions with the public. Supporters say that more recording will improve the conduct of both the police and the ruffians they encounter. Critics fear the spread of increasingly irksome types of surveillance.

The island’s enthusiasm is part of a national trend. Around 5,000 body-worn cameras are now in use by police in England and Wales, and about half of the region’s 43 forces employ them in some way. Teams answering 999 calls in ten London boroughs have been wearing cameras since May; on August 14th the Metropolitan Police announced that pencil cameras, affixed to clear glasses, had been given to officers in a uniformed armed unit. Frontline cops in Staffordshire sport them. All officers in Hampshire should have them soon. Essex is testing using them when called to deal with domestic abuse.

Cops with cameras do not record constantly. Instead, current guidelines encourage them to switch on their cameras—and to announce that they are doing so—during stop-and-searches, arrests and other encounters with the public. That is partly for practical reasons. Batteries do not (yet) last an entire shift and nor is software very good at plucking important events from large quantities of footage. But constant filming would probably also be unlawful, says Andy Marsh, chief constable of Hampshire Constabulary who is the national point-man for the police for body cameras. It could also damage relations between the police and the public.

Coppers like the gizmos for several reasons. First, many think it will cut the time they have to spend dealing with bogus complaints. Matthew Ellis, Staffordshire’s police and crime commissioner, describes a drunk who used gravel to scratch his own face and then threatened to blame the police; he stopped after an officer pointed out that the encounter had been taped. Investigating that complaint might have taken 50-100 hours and cost £3,000, reckons Mr Ellis. Such savings will go some way to offsetting the £328,000 his force’s 650 cameras have cost.

Second, they are an efficient way to collect evidence. Officers attending road traffic accidents can film the scene instead of taking photos and writing descriptions. Where victims of domestic violence are reluctant to act as witnesses, video footage can provide an alternative. Early results in Essex suggest that the number of successful prosecutions in such cases has risen.

Third, the cameras are helping forces train their officers, says Steve Goodier of Hampshire Constabulary. Senior officers can see first hand what cops have done right—and wrong—on the streets. So can outsiders. In Hampshire independent advisory groups made up of interested locals have already asked to see videos of stop-and-search incidents. That could lead to better behaved police. And cameras can also clarify the often-contentious actions of armed police.

Yet the new kit also brings challenges. The cameras promise to generate vast quantities of data, much of it sensitive, which will need to be held securely. At present footage that need not be retained as evidence is destroyed after one month, but as the costs of storage declines it will grow tempting to hang onto it for longer. Big Brother Watch, a civil liberties group, argues that an independent organisation should store the footage to quash any opportunity for police officers to tamper with it. It also wants assurance that police will not be allowed to switch off their cameras—to assault a suspect, for example—once an encounter has begun.

For now the widgets’ benefits appear to outweigh the risks. In Rialto, a town in California, complaints fell by nearly 90%—and the use of force by police officers by 60%—when cops started carrying cameras. Researchers at the University of Portsmouth will examine their effects on the Isle of Wight; the College of Policing, along with the London mayor’s office, will analyse the tests in Essex and the capital. Recorded crime is sure to rise.

Correction: We originally said that Andy Marsh was the Association of Chief Police Officers' lead on body cameras. In fact, he is the national policing lead on them. The article has been corrected to reflect this. Sorry.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline "Kojak moments"

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