Warning over cost of in-car cameras

FITTING police vehicles with cameras as a safeguard against scrapping corroboration would be a “massive expense” for Scotland’s national force, the chief constable has warned.

In a report published by Lord Bonomy last week, it was recommended that audiovisual equipment be installed in police cars to record the events following a suspect’s arrest.

But Sir Stephen House said the recommendation would have “huge” financial implications for his cashstrapped force. Justice secretary Michael Matheson last week announced that plans to scrap corroboration – the legal principle which requires two independent pieces of evidence for a case to be brought to court – would be removed from the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill while they are given further consideration.

It followed the publication of Lord Bonomy’s report, which recommended a series of safeguards be put in place should corroboration go.

The former High Court judge said comments were frequently made by suspects in police cars en route to the station.

But Sir Stephen said: “Some of the recommendations within Bonomy were significant. One of them was a suggestion that all police vehicles have internal video and audio recording, which would be a massive expense for the organisation.

“To be fair to Lord Bonomy and his colleagues, that may have been overcome with body-worn cameras. I don’t think they would expect that we would have body-worn cameras issued to all officers, and separate systems in cars and separate systems in custody and interviews rooms. It needs to be integrated in some way, but it’s still going to be a huge expense to the public purse and our budget.”