Police body-worn cameras on the way for Glasgow and Ayrshire
It will start with 10,000 officers in this region before moving out to Lanark, Paisley and Argyll and Bute.
Body-worn cameras, which allow police to film incidents to be used in evidence, are set to be rolled out across Ayrshire by the end of January.
The news was confirmed by PC Andrew McNutt of Tayside Police, appearing at Monday’s meeting of the North Ayrshire Police and Fire and Rescue Committee.
The rollout in U Division, which includes Ayrshire, will start in late January and then move across to Lanark, Glasgow, Paisley and Argyll and Bute
It is being rolled out initially to 10,000 front-line police officers and by May 15, all uniformed officers should have it.
The Motorola cameras are effectively the size of a small mobile phone.
Batteries last from 12 to 16 hours, right through a shift. Cameras are waterproof, dustproof , lightweight and robust.
PC McNutt said: “It brings positive change to police officers and to the judicial system. Bodyworn video can shine a light into the mind’s eye of a police officer.
“It is now shown in court so a Sheriff can see what happens in an event. If an incident is spontaneous, the recording starts straight away. Police officers must make a verbal announcement that recording is taking place.
“More complaints will be resolved more efficiently and fairly.
“Police officers can go out and about more and are no longer tied up in court – this allows a quicker judicial results although some police officers will still give evidence in court.”
The camera can be clipped on to yellow vest or jacket.
Arran Cllr Charles Currie asked what size of memory the cameras had and PC McNutt said they were uploaded onto the cloud and there were no issues about storage capacity.
The body-worn cameras, the police officer said, were “not a substitute for a police officer but an added extra.”
Cllr Jean McClung was fully supportive of the new gear and said it could relieve pressures on the courts.
Footage cannot be lost and manipulated as is uploaded on to a cloud.
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