Police log faults with body-worn cameras

More than 300 faults with Police Scotland’s body-worn cameras have been logged in the past three years.

The cameras were initially trialled in Aberdeen and then rolled out across Moray and Aberdeenshire in 2012.

Data obtained by BBC Scotland found that over a three-year period the number of faults reported with the system doubled.

Police Scotland told the BBC most problems had been with the force’s own computers, not the cameras themselves.

Officers have logged 302 faults in the force’s IT portal since 2013, according to information obtained by the BBC.

Assistant Chief Constable Mark Williams told BBC Good Morning Scotland: “There’s been in the region of 300 faults reported, but to give you some context around that, let’s take Queen Street station alone in Aberdeen in the north-east.

“Body-worn cameras have been deployed there in excess of 200,000 times over the period of the trial so the numbers are a tiny, tiny percentage of that, and I think what’s more important are the benefits that have come from the delivery of the bodyworn videos in the north-east of Scotland.”

Mr Williams said the force has a “transformational budget” to change the organisation, allowing them to consider the cost benefits of something like body-worn video.