COP CAMERA ISSUE BAFFLES

IN April, Assistant Commissioner Brian Codd wrote in an article for the Gold Coast Bulletin that the police service was investing in technology, with body-worn cameras part of an arsenal that also included computer tablets, digital radios, GPS-guided dispatching and automatic resource locators.

Indeed it was the rank and file who pushed for acceptance of cameras, with police union president Ian Leavers estimating early last year – before the Government began introducing the technology – that three quarters of police had bought their own body-worn cameras.

Self-preservation is part of the rationale. Police want to protect themselves from false accusations.

But it works both ways. Transparency and accountability are vital in ensuring the service operates within the rules.

The first rollout of cameras in 2016 delivered the devices and training to 26 police stations, 47 road policing units and 13 tactical crime squads across the state. Then last month Police Minister Mark Ryan announced a second major rollout of the cameras that was costing $6 million over three years, with police stations at Coolangatta, Coomera, Mudgeeraba, Nerang, Palm Beach, Robina and Runaway Bay among 142 centres to receive them, along with training.

The cameras are intended for multiple purposes. Once convinced of their worth as a policing tool, officers accepted that cameras could be used to quickly weed out vexatious complaints about police handling of arrests, and also understood the safety aspects that came into play as police and members of the public modified their behaviour when they knew the cameras were running.

Officers’ reluctance now to operate the cameras appears at first puzzling, given the Police Union’s support for the devices.

But what this issue highlights is a wider cultural problem that needs to be sorted – a lack of trust between higher and lower ranks of the police force while the Government beats the drum about the cameras.

Police on the beat may make an important arrest but they know if they put one foot wrong on policy, one simple mistake, this technology ensures their superiors can charge them with a breach.