The Metropolitan Police is changing its policy on releasing more body-worn video from officers to improve transparency and trust in policing. The force says the approach will back its officers and help people understand the challenging role they perform. Body-worn video has typically been published only after criminal proceedings end, leaving the public with a partial picture from footage shared online by others. Civil liberties groups have raised concerns about misuse, including switching cameras off during incidents or failing to disclose footage, which affects accountability. The Met released footage related to the Golders Green knife attacks and cited online criticism and public order policing operations. The Met also expanded body-worn camera use and faces concerns about facial recognition capabilities and related legal disputes.
"The Metropolitan Police said they are changing their policy on releasing more body-worn video from officers "where it can improve transparency and trust in policing". It said this would improve trust and "back our own officers and help people understand the very challenging role they perform". Body-worn video has until now typically only published after the conclusion of any criminal proceedings, meaning the public was only seeing a "partial picture" from footage shared online by others."
"Civil liberties groups have long-standing concerns police can misuse body-worn cameras by switching them off during incidents or failing to disclose footage, raising questions regarding accountability. The Met said it released footage of the arrest of the suspect in the Golders Green knife attacks in April "in response to a narrative growing online which criticised the force used by officers, who were bravely apprehending an armed man". They added: "It was put into use again following the significant public order policing operation last Saturday, where we were able to provide an insight into the abuse officers faced from protesters and the challenges involved in intervening in dense crowds to make arrests.""
"London's police force began an initial pilot of 500 body-worn cameras in May 2014, with a mass rollout to thousands of officers in October 2016. Human rights advocacy group Liberty has warned that UK police forces already use earlier versions of facial recognition technology, which combine footage recorded on body-worn cameras with software to provide retrospective facial recognition searches. In one case, siblings faced a two-year legal battle over footage showing officers' use of force against them during a Black Lives Matter rally in London."
Read at www.bbc.com
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