Body cameras start rolling for Melbourne police
THE long-awaited rollout of body cameras for Victoria Police officers begins today in Melbourne’s north.
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VISION and sound captured by new police body cameras will be kept for 90 days, as the Andrews Government begins rolling out the technology.
Cameras will capture video and audio of police making arrests, performing drug tests, dealing with family violence incidents and other policing activities.
Officers will not be required to disclose they are filming, but the devices will display a flashing red light.
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Police are expected to turn the cameras on whenever they respond to incidents or encounters with members of the public.
Recordings will be downloaded after each shift and police will not be able to delete or alter captured data.
Dozens of police officers in Epping began using the cameras on Wednesday ahead of a rollout in Ballarat.
All 11,000 frontline Victoria Police officers are expected to wear the cameras by 2020.
Footage would be kept for longer than 90 days if required as evidence in a prosecution.
Commander Russell Barrett said community privacy was important and some interactions would not be filmed.
“Cameras won’t be used when there’s private matters (such as) intimate searches of people,” he said.
Cdr Barrett said the rollout would provide a “significant uplift” in police capability.
“We expect that the technology will improve community safety, enhance evidence gathering (and) increase police safety and accountability,” he said.
Funding for the cameras comes from a $227 million technology upgrade to Victoria Police.
Police Minister Lisa Neville said the technology would benefit victims as well as police.
“It helps with early guilty pleas, it helps with quicker prosecutions, it reduces the paperwork for (police) and it is critical for improving police accountability and behaviour,” she said.
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