Police Body-Worn Cameras
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A CoPaCC Policing Report November 2017 BODY-WORN VIDEO IN POLICING Published by BODY-WORN VIDEO IN POLICING About us About CoPaCC CoPaCC was established shortly after the first PCC elections in November 2012 to monitor policing governance in England and Wales. CoPaCC now has a portfolio of services, working together to help organisations meet their governance and management challenges and opportunities. These include: l Policy and delivery CoPaCC’s national overview across policing, criminal justice and blue light provides us with an unrivalled insight into what works l Communications and social media CoPaCC publishes PolicingInsight.com, the UK’s foremost online magazine focusing on governance, management and politics in policing and criminal justice l Information and insight CoPaCC produces thematic reports and expert events covering key issues of policy and practice in the policing and criminal justice sectors l Monitoring standards CoPaCC monitors standards in policing governance, assessing OPCC performance and awarding quality marks in key areas of accountability Useful contacts Get in touch at [email protected] Visit www.copacc.org.uk Follow @CoPaCC Visit www.PolicingInsight.com Follow @PolicingInsight Forthcoming CoPaCC thematic reports Forthcoming reports: l Police ICT: User perspectives l Statutory Transparency: Audit of OPCCs l Commissioning victim support services l Police complaints handling l Criminal justice governance Copyright © 2017 CoPaCC Ltd / Policing Insight All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, email the publisher: [email protected] CoPaCC Ltd, 128 Brunel Drive, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire SG18 8BJ United Kingdom Cover image: Metropolitan Police Copyright © 2017 CoPaCC Ltd/Policing Insight 2 November 2017 BODY-WORN VIDEO IN POLICING Contributor quotes ‘We are able to close down ‘Nothing prevents mental many complaints, and very health trusts and their police quickly – this includes serious forces sitting down to discuss complaints that would usually body-worn video’ go to the IPCC' Insp Michael Brown, Mental Health Cop Blog Inspector Tim Coombe, Avon and Somerset Police ‘The key technical challenges ‘A verbal reminder at the are about managing the start of an encounter nudges large quantity of data while everyone to think about their ensuring that it meets data actions more consciously’ protection requirements’ Dr Barak Ariel, criminologist at the University of Cambridge Superintendent Ian Wylie, Avon and Somerset Police ‘A public opinion survey ‘The cameras were viewed as reported that there was an a tactical tool with the potential overwhelmingly positive for increasing the number of attitude towards police use guilty pleas’ of cameras' Gary Mason, Policing Insight contributor Emmeline Taylor, Co-Director of the Surveillance Studies Network at the University of Surrey ‘Forces now have more choice – if they want to go cheap, ‘‘There was no significant there’s choice there but also difference between officers if you want the best and want wearing BWV or not in their to be future proof, that’s levels of assault. This mirrors available too’ the results for arrests for all Rini Chacko, Reveal Media violent crime’’ College of Policing ‘The acquisition, cost and deployment of body-worn ‘We are only just beginning to cameras is far from being given understand the ramifications a solid tick of approval and of applying this technology on further scrutiny of the use of the frontline of policing’ the technology is needed’ Alex Sutherland, Research leader at RAND Europe Renate Sampson, Big Brotherwatch Copyright © 2017 CoPaCC Ltd/Policing Insight 3 November 2017 BODY-WORN VIDEO IN POLICING About the authors Policing Insight team Ian Wiggett is a CoPaCC Associate and an expert contributor for Policing Tina Orr-Munro is associate editor Insight. A former ACC in Greater of Policing Insight. After a career as Manchester Police, with responsibility a police scenes of crime officer, Tina for Serious Crime and Counter retrained as a journalist and joined Terrorism, he was the national lead Jane's Police Review in 2000 as a staff for systems thinking and for casualty bureau, and reporter. She became a freelance police and crime was chair of the NPAS Assurance Group. Ian was journalist in 2004. Since then, she has written for the responsible for special operations within GMP. Home Office, Crown Prosecution Service, Police Feder- ation of England and Wales, and national newspapers. Graham Jarvis is a prolific business and technology journalist. Since 1999 Gary Mason is a freelance editor he has written for top business and and journalist and a regular contribu- IT titles; such as Data Center Journal, tor to Policing Insight. He is an expert CIO magazine, FS-Tech, Times Higher commentator on police, crime and Education Supplement, Banking Technology, Cloud terrorism issues, homeland security Pro, CloudTech, Cloud Computing Intelligence, Cloud policy, tactics and technology. He is a Computing World, Computerweekly, IT Pro Portal, former editor of Police Review magazine. i-CIO, TU Automotive and Digitalisation World. Contributors Andy Griffiths is an Associate Tutor at the College of Policing (UK) and a Stephen Roberts set up Vigilant former Senior Investigating Officer. Research in 2015 in order to support During his career he has contributed the policing and justice sectors with to national policy and training on IT insight. The company’s flagship investigative interviewing, as member of the national programme is the Digital Policing council advising all police forces. Review, which will assess UK police forces according to a maturity and capability model for digital policing. Michael Brown is a serving police inspector who began blogging about Alex Sutherland is a research lead- mental health in a personal capacity er at RAND Europe. Dr. Sutherland and was often seconded from West has been involved in various studies Midlands Police to the College of Po- looking at the effectiveness of body- licing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council, as their worn cameras in US and UK police mental health coordinators. forces as part of a team led by Dr. Barak Ariel at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge. Kevin Donoghue is the Solicitor Director of Donoghue Solicitors. He Renate Sampson is the Chief Execu- specialises in civil actions against tive of Big Brother Watch, which cam- the police and is a supporter of the paigns on behalf of the individuals to police’s use of body-worn cameras. ensure their privacy and civil liberties are maintained in the digital age by Special thanks also to policing, government, academic and industry experts who made government, public authorities and businesses. time for our team Copyright © 2017 CoPaCC Ltd/Policing Insight 4 November 2017 BODY-WORN VIDEO IN POLICING Contents Easy content navigation! l Click article titles to jump to the required article page. l Click 'Back to contents' links at the bottom of each page to return to Contents page Foreword and introduction 38 Examining best practice in BWV systems 6 A game-changer for policing procurement Though the mindset has changed In 7 Developing picture: Police use of BWV A recent years, police procurement is still far from perfect summary of British police force trials and how they have 43 Managing BWV implementation Officers did not affected police work and interactions with the public like having the critical eyes of their superiors overlooking them at all times, yet this reluctance has been receding Using BWV 46 Map: BWV use in the UK A map showing which UK 11 A vital tool for policing Improved detection forces are currently using BWV and how many cameras rates, better evidence and more early guilty pleas are all they have in operation convincing reasons to invest in body-worn video 15 Body-worn video and the law No legislation Comment and analysis directly regulates BWV use, instead forces must negotiate 47 Shooting video: BWV for firearms Firearms a dizzying array of laws and codes of practice police units require a more nuanced approach to body- 18 Preserving ethics, privacy and human rights worn video than their unarmed colleagues Officers must show due regard to the ethical use of BWV 51 An obsession with memory: Body-worn video to preserve the public’s overwhelming support for it and the criminal justice system BWV challenges the criminal justice system’s reliance on memory Professional standards 53 Building the case for BWV: Savings in 22 Reducing complaints Body-worn video cameras complaints and case building? How to reconcile the have precipitated a significant drop in complaints against cost of adoption with the other budgetary pressures officers – while also exposing some of the bad ones 57 Can police officers have too much discretion? 24 Improved officer professionalism Recording BWV can work well for officers, but it could backfire on officers' actions increases their adherance to best them if they are allowed to switch them on and off practice while also exposing training requirements 59 Will body-worn cameras change how forces deal with police misconduct? A case of wrongful Police/public interaction arrest highlights how an officer’s