Police gets to grips with body cameras

Police in Staffordshire are trialling video technology to capture and store footage officers have gathered on the beat using cameras worn on the body.

The trial is funded from the £3m that the Home Office has set aside for camera technology pilots.

Inspector David Edge, who is coordinating the camera trial, told silicon.com: "Once the officer's finished his tour of duty or taken his prisoner back to the police station he can upload those recordings to a central server."

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The Carma 2.0 system from Reveal Media is used to store video and make it searchable, helping the force comply with the Management of Police Information (Mopi) government guidelines.

Edge said: "Under Mopi we have to review information so if it's not evidential and we don't need it for a policing purpose we've got to get rid of it."

He explained that by using a centralised server, different divisions can access and manage their own recordings. The software flags up recordings more than 31 days old, deleting non-evidential footage.

The system also generates reports, has a quick search function and helps the force comply with the Data Protection Act.

Evidential video can be used to support convictions in court and justify police action as well as to quickly brief solicitors on the evidence held on their clients prior to interviews.

The system is also crucial in supporting the Criminal Justice Support Service as it will allow officers to show footage to offenders to prompt early guilty pleas.

Edge observed a camera tech trial in Plymouth but wanted to improve on the three networked PCs used in this, which required footage to be burnt onto DVDs.

He said: "Having seen [the trial] at Plymouth I came back and suggested that we maybe wanted to consider a centralised version of that software so that we could manage and enforce policy.

"It also allows us to manage the recorded data over a long period of time. We don't want cabinets full of DVDs."

The Staffordshire trial - based in Hanley police station in Stoke-on-Trent - started in November 2007 and runs to the end of April 2008 when the force will assess whether to roll the system out further.

A Home Office report suggested the use of camera technology will reduce time spent on paperwork and file preparation by 22.4 per cent as well as reducing violent crime.