Senior cop admits officers can do better with use of body-cameras

Deputy Commissioner of Police Junior Benjamin says while the police increased their use of body cameras, they can do better in ensuring that they are used at all times and footage is supplied to the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) for probes into police-involved incidents.

Benjamin made the comment hours after the PCA director David West lamented that the lack of use of body-worn cameras by officers hinders their probes into fatal police shootings.

West said there is a policy mandating that for every patrol, at least one officer wears their body camera and records the interactions between the public and police. However, he said this is not happening in the majority of cases.

“We have put those things in place to ensure that it becomes part and parcel of the culture of the police service. We believe more and more, as we do that we will see an improvement in terms of police officers using the body-worn cameras both to defend the police and ensure that level of trust in police operations,” West said yesterday on CNC3’s The Morning Brew programme.

West said for the year, the PCA is yet to receive any footage from police officers’ body-worn cameras that can assist in its probes into 37 fatal police-involved shootings.

West said, “No investigation regarding police-involved shootings have revealed body cam footage used by the TTPS. It is a very simple matter, the use of a body camera will tell a story of what transpired in live, real-time.”

Asked about this, Benjamin said there is still more that needs to be done. He said the 2,000 more cameras that will be procured for the TTPS soon will have an extensive battery life of up to eight hours, unlike the 90-minute lifespan that now exists.

However, contacted on the issue, Police Social and Welfare Association president ASP Gideon Dickson said there was no legal obligation for the police to share video footage with the PCA.

In a telephone interview, Dickson said while he encourages the use of the technology, the PCA is an independent investigative arm which is not mandated to receive the requested information.

“What is the authority for us to hand it over? I have no information regarding that and I am not mindful of any authority that speaks to that.”

Dickson said with cameras all over the country, if the PCA wanted, it could use other footage available to it, from cellphones, CCTV and even dashcam footage in lieu of body-camera footage.

In an immediate response to this, West said that’s not the case.

“Yes, we do have the legal ability under the (PCA) Act, that we get the footage, if they have it.”

West said having the police footage will also reduce investigative time and manpower.

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