Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 63
63
Accepted in Part
Paragraph: 469
Police body-worn cameras require consistent use and structured oversight to build confidence.
Conclusion
New technologies have the potential either to re-build community confidence and/ or to badly damage it, depending on the technology, on the way it is introduced and the nature of the oversight. The introduction of police body-worn cameras, if done properly, is a new technology that could help to rebuild community confidence. As we have recommended in the previous chapter, it has an essential role to play in ensuring that stop and search is done fairly under proper oversight. But it is important that body-worn video is used consistently, rather than being left to individual officer discretion. Footage must be provided as part of structured processes of oversight and review, both internally and externally, to facilitate lessons being learned and openness with the public.
Government Response Summary
The government highlights that updated guidance for BWV use, supervisory review, and sharing footage with scrutiny panels was issued in July 2020 and adopted by most forces. It also commits to exploring how best to facilitate sharing BWV footage with local scrutiny panels and to share best practice to improve scrutiny and consistency.
Paragraph Reference:
469
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
Body Worn Video (BWV) is a vital tool to improve accountability and transparency in policing. It allows greater scrutiny of interactions with the public, which both increases officer accountability for their conduct and protection for the officer. Over 80,000 cameras are now in use across all 43 forces. The Home Office asked the College to improve their stop and search guidance to cover BWV use, supervisory review and sharing of footage with scrutiny panels. This was published in July 2020 and since then most forces have adopted this guidance and are demonstrating best practice. We understand that a number of forces conduct reviews of BWV internally and with their community scrutiny panels. Good practice is shared to ensure compliance with data protection legislation, and the College has updated their APP to reflect guidance on this. Forces have been innovative in using technology throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure scrutiny has continued. The Home Office supports increased scrutiny of BWV footage in stop and search encounters, and we will explore whether we could go further in applying this scrutiny to other police powers. As we set out in Inclusive Britain, we will identify and seek opportunities to remove unnecessary barriers that prevent use of BWV and will explore how best to facilitate the sharing of BWV footage with local scrutiny panels, in order to improve the scrutiny of police decision-making and improve the understanding of legitimate police use of powers such as stop and search. We will work with police forces that have best practice in this area to explore the full extent of what can be achieved and ensure that this best practise is shared. This will enable communities to see how officers in their forces behave and enable both individual and organisational feedback on good and poor performance.