Star comment: Long time coming for police body-cams
In future years, they will ask a question about the body cameras now being worn by police officers in Telford. It will be: What took them so long?
The technology is out there, in just the same way that the technology was out there to tape-record interviews with suspects, and yet police relied for years on old-fashioned notebooks, and if officers were at the same incident they often made up their notes together, resulting in identical testimony when the cases came to court.
Like everything else, these cameras have cost money. But how much do trials which collapse cost? What price can be put on justice, providing evidence of the guilt – or innocence – of someone?
It is human nature for different people to remember things differently. Cameras do not lie, nor do they make mistakes in recollection. They also spot things and record them which may escape the human eye at the time, especially in times of stress or in fast-moving events.
One fairly recent event in Telford added great weight to the calls for police to routinely wear body cameras. It was the death of former Aston Villa footballer Dalian Atkinson after an incident in which he was Tasered by police. The officers involved were not wearing cameras. The results of the investigation which has followed are awaited, and should not be pre-judged, but it is obvious that body camera footage would have been of value in, quite literally, giving a picture of what happened.
The use of cameras will always give rise to the fear of “Big Brother” in which everybody and every thing is being watched all the time, invading privacy. Those wearing them may also feel that it is they who are being watched. Would the British Royal Marine jailed after shooting dead a wounded member of the Taliban in Afghanistan have been brought to court had it not all be captured on film?
These things are about balance and degree, and the use of body cameras by police is a tool and a protection. They are evidence-gatherers, and protect the police and public alike from false allegations which would be shown to be false by the footage.
Another potential benefit is that studies have shown that people tend to act differently, generally in a good way, when they know they are being observed. These days, when there is an incident, people get out their mobile phones and film it. By, in effect, doing the same, police are merely belatedly keeping up with the times.
