BODY-WORN VIDEO
FEATURE
■ Violent crime – down by 10 per cent ■ Complaints against the police – down by 40 per cent
■ Wounding – down by 18 per cent ■ Reduction in officer time spent on paperwork – down by 30 per cent
■ Incidents resulting in arrests – up by 85 per cent In addition, members of the public are far less likely to make false allegations against staff if they know the interaction between them and the staff member is being recorded.
And on the other side of the fence, staff become more aware of their actions and language.
The cost of the units can quickly be recovered by reducing unproductive and unnecessary uses of staff time – for example, reducing sick leave that may be taken as a result of staff being involved in a safety incident, or reducing the amount of time spent investigating public complaints against staff.
have proved their worth is domestic violence. When used in these situations, early accounts from victims and evidence of injuries can be documented. In the event that a complaint is subsequently withdrawn, the case can still proceed as a victimless prosecution, thereby ensuring that offenders are still held to account. Reduction in crime statistics from the Home Office report show a dramatic reduction in crime where officers have used a body-worn video system:
www.britishparking.co.uk
A remote switch on the chest allows the
officer to start and stop the recording
Chest or head? In my opinion, the best results are obtained where the camera is worn on the side of an officer’s head. Everywhere the officer’s head moves, the camera follows. Many systems provide a number of different attachments and care should be taken to ensure they are supplied in the initial purchase, rather than as expensive extras. This gives the officer the choice of where they wish to position the camera. Officers also carry the digital hard drive unit, which should have both a rechargeable and a spare battery. A remote switch worn on the chest allows the officer to start and stop the recording, while a visible light indicator enables others to see when the camera is recording or if it’s in standby mode. Where the camera is worn on the chest it has been shown to have much poorer results. The camera has a narrow field of view and the image is often distorted with a ‘fish eye’ look to it. An example of the poorer result would be at close quarters when the camera will only show the offender’s chest and not their facial expressions. Upon download the audio is often out of sync with the video, too. BWV must have built-in LCD screens that permit officers to review footage on the street. This feature is valuable during
MAY 2013 29
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52