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A watching brief with body-worn video devices
Following the completion of the recent pilot by Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, who conducted extended use trials of body-worn video as part of the Plymouth BCU Head Camera Project the Home Office is providing an additional £3m to fund a national roll-out of advanced head cameras to the police service. Dawn Davison-Read takes a closer look at the pilot and similar trials that have been conducted across the UK...
The use of body-worn video devices is no longer restricted to the realms of sci-fi movies or futuristic views on technology. Following the recent pilot by Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, watched closely by police forces across the country, the technology has shown how it has the potential to significantly improve the quality of evidence provided by police officers and police community support officers in the drive to reduce crime. Additionally, body-worn video devices have an even wider potential across the entire breadth of the public safety sector.
In fact, as outlined by a Home Office statement during July, when worn by the police, body-worn devices such as head cameras, film everything the police officer sees, making it much harder for offenders to convincingly mislead juries about what had actually occurred. Undeniable evidence. And following the publication of an independent evaluation of the pilot project in Plymouth, the use of head-cameras has shown a clear connection between their use and an increase in successful prosecutions. Home Office Minister, Tony McNulty stated that the cameras significantly improve the quality of evidence provided by police officers, which in turn helps reduce crime and brings more offenders to justice. The Home Office, thus made the decision to provide an additional £3m to fund a national roll-out of advanced head-cameras.
Home Office guidance
Subsequent to the publication of the report, the Home Office Police and Crime Standards Directorate has also released a guidance publication: ‘Guidance for the Police Use of Body-Worn Video Devices.’ Within the guidance it clearly identifies that the use of video in this context provides a compelling evidential record as to the conduct of suspects and police evidence gathering has become a specialist role within many policing operations, particularly in public order situations. Yet, as identified in the report, while evidence gathered by handheld video and CCTV systems is highly beneficial to prosecutions, the manner in which such equipment is employed can be restrictive. The guidance, also clearly outlines that it is crucial that the wider use of such video evidence should not take primacy over other types of evidence, such as statements from police officers or other eye witnesses. Police officers and other criminal justice agencies, particularly CPS prosecutors must resist any suggestion that an absence of video images in anyway weakens the strength of conventional evidence used in a case. Above all the guidance seeks to standardise practices in the use of the technology, provide guidance on the legal and procedural framework and identify the appropriate technical specifications to make the technology fit for policing purposes in England and Wales.
Commenting on ACPO’s position on personal digital recording equipment, Ken Jones President of ACPO said in a press statement, “The introduction of personal digital recording equipment for police officers and staff brings benefits and risks which ACPO will now more fully consider. The interim Home Office Guidance and Research document will now be subjected to critical review.”
The statement continued to outline that arguably the guidance and research (which focused on a small number of geographical areas) underplays some of the risks, especially those which might accompany a more general deployment as opposed to the narrower established roles for this sort of technology. “We need to guard against creating an expectation that all police activity ought to be supported by the use of digital recording technology. If we are not careful our relationship with communities may be changed forever.”
Continuing he said, “Many forces are already experimenting with this technology, independent of the research, and the time is right for us to address this strategically. The availability of new funding allows us to develop a sensible approach to the use of this technology, which delivers benefits to the public, the service and its partners.”
The Plymouth pilot
As previously documented (BAPCO Journal April 2007) the pilot originally began in 2005 with small-scale tests of a head-mounted video system in Plymouth BCU. In October 2006, Plymouth commenced an extended use trial funded by local partners with 50 head-mounted cameras to be used in as many operational situations as possible by the 300 trained staff in three sectors of the BCU. The Police Standards Unit utilised this local trial as an opportunity to assess the effectiveness of the technology for the police service nationally. Sgt Oliver Tayler led the pilot Head Camera Project at Plymouth BCU. Discussing the project, he said, “The concept and use of body-worn videos have proved to be beneficial as a tool to gather good evidence in an easy to manage digital format which helps improve business efficiency. What is more we have seen how the use of the technology not only assists in evidential gathering but also helps reduce time in identification. For instance, if an incident occurs the perpetrator if videoed covertly is more likely to plea guilty generating time and cost savings.”
Tayler also explained that following the success of the pilot in Plymouth it was now moving toward the next phased where other forces and partner agencies could see the real benefits of the system. “Two years ago it wasn’t heard of, yet within a relatively short time frame we have achieved national proof of concept and additional Government funding for the future which leads to a very exciting proposition for the future of policing and emergency response.”
“One of the biggest impacts in the use of body-worn video has been the an unexpected spin-off via the public’s general perception. We have seen a welcome shift in attitude with a less aggressive approach toward us from some sectors of the public and alleged offenders being far more compliant. In addition, from our survey of the public conducted during the trial, 80% felt the introduction of the technology was a good idea. ” Sgt Oliver Tayler, Devon and Cornwall Constabulary
Additional trials
The Cylon body-worn system from Audax was trialled at the G8 conference in Gleneagles. The portable camera, worn on the head, is linked to a digital video recorder complete with a 4” LCD screen and a 100GB hard drive allowing instant replay and the storage of approximately 400 hours of sound and video footage. The product was developed with Archos, who provided a security focused customised unit to support the system which includes permanent date and time stamping for evidential purposes.
Another solution, developed by RoboCam, is a lightweight headset which contains a compact digital camera, transmits images via a cable to a small VCR held in the officer’s tactical vest. North Hertfordshire District Council provided two of these cameras to Hitchin Police. Acting Insp. Sieve Mann, Hitchin Community Team said, “These cameras are superb, they enable us to gather intelligence on video, live, while an incident is occurring.” He also stated that to have more cameras would be a superb opportunity as it would allow all officers, such as traffic officers to gather incontrovertible evidence and information.”
During the Glastonbury Festival in June of this year, Avon and Somerset Police used the body-worn video wireless solution developed by Reveal Media in partnership with Domo. Commenting, Superintendent Adrian Coombs said, "We can see and hear everything happening at the scene which will help the police officer in command to direct resources and make decisions about policing options. It's like having an extra pair of eyes on the street. We also envisage it being very useful for evidence gathering during public order situations, football matches and firearms incidents.The system will also be a deterrent to offenders and a reassurance to the general public.”
The Body Worn Video Wireless Solution comprises of a number of software and hardware technologies that Reveal Media has architected as a complete system. Specially modified Police Jackets house all the necessary equipment and cabling. The system transmits four digitally encrypted live video feeds and GPS data of the officer’s position back to the Police command centre. The live video feeds were logged by Reveal Media’s M3 software and all evidence from the solid state video recorders is managed by CARMA and Mapper, displays the GPS information and incident media onto a dynamic map creating an unprecedented situation overview for the team leaders.
And to the future - identifying lightweight, robust and easy to use body worn video devices that both record and enable live streaming of video footage to a nearby vehicle or command centre or even in combination with automatic number plate recognition technology will undoubtedly assist in incident management and reducing crime. Put simply, a picture paints a thousand words, and visualisation of incidents can aid communication and information gathering across all partner agencies as well as having a direct impact on criminal activity. The possibilities are endless...
