HMN 2025: How Police Scotland usher in body-worn video

By autumn 2026, all frontline officers of the UK’s second largest police power can be anticipated to wear a camera while on duty, at a price of over £13 million.

Police Scotland is likely one of the last forces within the UK to make use of this know-how nationally. It has been a requirement for armed officers in Scotland because it hosted the UN local weather convention, Cop26, in 2021. Devon and Cornwall Police ran the primary body-worn trial in Plymouth some 20 years in the past.

The use of this know-how was advisable by Lady Elish Angiolini (presently lord clerk register of Scotland) who led a 2020 independent review of complaints and misconduct in Scottish policing. The report argued that body-worn cameras have the potential to considerably scale back complaints in opposition to the police.

In principle, being late to the occasion means Police Scotland is ready of energy. They can undertake acknowledged finest practice from different police forces within the UK, whereas steering away from errors. But our review of the evidence reveals how little is admittedly identified in regards to the effectiveness of this know-how.

Body-worn video guarantees to help in proof gathering, which can be utilized to assist investigations and prosecutions. It can be seen to offer a degree of non-public safety for cops, and elevated transparency and accountability in terms of police habits or misconduct.

But there are nonetheless uncertainties about its precise influence on society. The proof base is comparatively mixed and ambiguous, with principally small-scale research and anecdotal proof.

Survey research reveals there may be important public support for police utilizing body-worn video, however that is primarily formed by the technology’s perceived benefits.

Does body-worn video work?

Body-worn video is now commonplace in policing world wide. It can be seen to be essential gear for safety guards, traffic wardens and prison officers. It is even utilized by football referees, ticket inspectors, delivery drivers and well being care and retail staff.

While it’s now commonplace, there’s a notable lack of strong proof in regards to the penalties of its use. Rather a lot rests on the assumptions about what the know-how will do.

There are no reliable measures capturing any reduction in violent incidents or ranges of complaints about police behavior.

An argument for using body-worn video is that it creates “goal” recorded accounts of interactions between police and residents. In principle, the recordings can present irrefutable proof about what occurred, which in flip will improve confidence in policing.

The Scottish Police Authority notes that video recordings can streamline the process of resolving complaints in opposition to officers. It can also improve the standard of proof and “reduces the variety of officers required to attend court docket” in investigations.

However, the difficulty stays that officers could use their discretion to show the cameras on or off. In 2023, a BBC investigation revealed greater than 150 stories of digital camera misuse by officers in England and Wales. Forces want processes in place to stop this and to carry officers accountable, or the digital account of an interplay will all the time be decided by the police.

There is a few proof that body-worn video can exacerbate current racial tensions. Research from North America suggests minority groups don’t consider that police body-worn video will make the police extra accountable or clear, and that they as a substitute reinforce current energy constructions in society. This can fracture already strained relations with the police.

Surveillance considerations

There are technical, legal and ethical challenges rising from the seize and processing of non-public knowledge.

New body-worn video units, together with these bought by Police Scotland, even have the technical functionality to integrate facial recognition software. If deployed, this could imply that the know-how is now not a few retrospective account of occasions, however a device for dwell id matching. This would considerably change the aim and scope of the know-how and the way the police work together with residents.

Live facial recognition divides opinion and is seen to discriminate in opposition to women and minority ethnic groups. There are additionally considerations about its effectiveness.

As we present in our research, police forces throughout the UK have completely different procedures for utilizing this know-how, and for holding officers accountable.

A number of UK forces have arrange technology-specific oversight mechanisms, for instance, impartial scrutiny panels that embody members of the general public. But these mechanisms are the exception, not the norm. In Scotland, scrutiny will happen through the Scottish Police Authority utilizing current preparations.

While we commend Police Scotland for the due warning they’ve exercised in delaying the nationwide roll-out of this know-how, our view is that technology-specific protocols and oversight mechanisms should be in place on the earliest doable alternative.

Police should be skilled correctly within the operation of cameras or they danger capturing inappropriate private knowledge and encroaching on residents’ privateness expectations.

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