A report has found that unless Victoria Police begins actively monitoring why body-worn cameras are not being activated in some cases, there would be missed opportunities in improving public safety.
At almost one-in-10 incidents that Victorian police were called to over one month of last year, at which they were required to turn on their body-worn cameras, none of the officers did.
Victoria Police began using body-worn cameras, which are attached to an officer’s ballistics vest and turned on manually, in 2017 following recommendations from theMore than 2.8 million recordings have been captured since the cameras’ introduction. Police policy requires officers to activate the devices while exercising their powers. Audio and video recordings can then be used as evidence in court proceedings and to help resolve complaints against officers.
Robinson Gill principal lawyer Jeremy King, who specialises in police misconduct, said while the report was well-intentioned, it lacked critical information and only analysed data from one month. Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt said despite the new technology being introduced as a family violence investigation tool following the 2016 royal commission, the report indicated it was failing to achieve that purpose.
Police Minister Lisa Neville said cases in which cameras had not been turned on could include when multiple officers had attended the same incident but some hadn’t played an active role.
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