Lawyers demand commissioner penalise police who fail to use new body cameras
VICTORIA’S top cop Graham Ashton has been urged to penalise officers who fail to record encounters with members of the public when body cameras come into use by the force next month.
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VICTORIA Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton has been urged to penalise officers who fail to record encounters with members of the public when body cameras come into use by the force next month.
The Federation of Community Legal Centres Victoria wrote to the state’s top cop on Wednesday with a list of demands about the body cameras.
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Two hundred police officers will wear the cameras from April, in the first stage of a multimillion-dollar investment to be rolled out across Victoria over the next five years. Eleven thousand officers will wear the cameras by 2020.
The Federation of Community Legal Centres Victoria also wants footage from body worn cameras to be made available to people who make complaints about the conduct of police officers.
The group is demanding a minimum 90-day retention period for all footage captured.
Law enforcement technology giant Axon is providing the body cameras to Victoria Police. The move will bring Victoria into line with NSW and Queensland.
Police believe the cameras will be a crucial tool for officers responding to family violence incidents.
Laws were introduced to the Victorian parliament last August to ensure police officers could legally use body cameras.
The investment forms a part of the government’s $596 million Public Safety Package and supports recommendations from the Royal Commission into Family Violence, which called for the trial and evaluation of body cameras, to collect statements from victims to use as evidence in court.
The ability to capture real-time video evidence of the scene of a crime will be crucial, senior police believe.