Use of police body-worn cameras could ‘lead to spike in guilty pleas’
The use of police staff bodyworn cameras could lead to a "spike in guilty pleas" and reduce pressure on Scotland's backlogged criminal courts, a senior police officer has suggested.
Chief Superintendent Matt Richards has backed more than 10,000 police officers and staff across the country using the technology to increase safety and accountability, improve the quality of evidence from incidents and the speed of justice for victims, and boost public confidence in police.
According to the Police Federation of England and Wales, since 2016 all forces in those two countries have introduced the technology, which films fast-moving emergency incidents in high-quality footage from the officer's perspective. But "financial and structural constraints" mean Scotland is lagging behind. Only officers in the north east of Scotland have access to the torso
mounted recorders after they were tested there in 2013 and kept in use ever since.
Police Scotland are asking the public for their view on the cameras being introduced nationally, after a public survey in February showed strong support for armed police having the kit.
Firearms officers patrolling the United Nations Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow in November will have body-worn cameras. All other UK armed officers already have them. Mr Richards said the cameras would increase safety, as new figures showed assaults on police staff increased overall by 6.3 per cent in 2020-21 compared with the previous year, with 6,942 attacks recorded.
He compared body-worn videos with road-side breathalyser tests, saying those tests led to more people admitting their guilt "because of the science, the irrefutable technology element".
He said: "British policing is about policing by consent.
"Whatever the public tells us, we will bear in mind in terms of how we run the programme."
He also said victims of crime could benefit from "increased speed and efficiency" in the under-pressure criminal justice system.
Mr Richards added: "We know there is a real spike in guilty pleas, which again reduces that congestion in courts."