Question
The National Police Chiefs’ Council said it would be updating its guidance for body-worn video next month and it would be “more strongly worded to recommend that forces need to take action towards officers who are not using BWV correctly”. Are PSNI aware of how many times officers have used BWV incorrectly? What have been the consequences of this e.g lost evidence? What action is taken against those who are not using BWV correctly?
Answer
There have been 21 reports received by Professional Standards Department during the past 3 years in relation to the misuse of Body Worn Video by Police Service of Northern Ireland officers, including both matters referred internally, and files received from the Police Ombudsman. All of these have concerned either a failure to engage Body Worn Video, or to inform a member of the public that Body Worn Video was being utilised.
Each of these cases were dealt with as either a performance matter, or via informal misconduct action, with the exception of one matter where a written warning was issued in relation to wider failings, including the misuse of Body Worn Video.
Further complaints in relation to the use of Body Worn Video may have been received by the Police Ombudsman, however where the complaint has not resulted in a file being sent to Professional Standards, the data in relation to these complaints is not readily available.
Some of the failures to activate Body Work Video resulted in incidents of use of force or alleged inappropriate language not being captured, however detailed analysis of the consequences of the failures has not been carried out.