Some 13,000 body-worn cameras are being procured for His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service officers in England and Wales.
By capturing video and audio evidence, the deployment will help officer safety as well as trust and transparency for staff and prisoners alike, according to the manufacturer, Motorola Solutions. The VB400 body-worn camera offers video and audio capture and comes with an automatic pre-recording, for a record of interactions from start to finish.
When signing off duty, officers return cameras to their docks which upload and store the day’s footage to the VideoManager evidence management platform. The body-camera has a 12 hour battery life.
Fergus Mayne, UK and Ireland country manager at Motorola Solutions, said: “We’re seeing a growing trend in the use of video security technology by prisons to help their frontline teams fulfill their roles safely and transparently. The UK government’s investment in body-worn cameras for officers in all public sector prisons across England and Wales highlights the vital importance of this technology in helping to maintain safety and security across prison operations.”
This is among the largest orders for public sector body-worn; police including the UK’s largest force the Metropolitan Police are also routine users of body-worn. Separately, City of London Police will roll out VB400 body-worn to its force.
Supt Neal Donohoe of City of London Police said: “City of London Police is dedicated to ensuring London is a safe and attractive destination, and the body-worn camera roll out will help our officers continue to serve and protect those who live in, work in and visit the city. The new video technology will capture valuable incident footage that provides an objective record to promote transparency and accountability while also helping to keep our officers and communities safe.”
The force’s use with the Pronto mobile digital policing platform will align video footage with other incident report information and connections with a range of sensors will automate recording when critical events occur, such as an officer pressing the emergency button on their MXP600 TETRA portable radio.
Motorola’s body-worn is also in use by London Ambulance Services, National Highways and rail operators.
Background
Official inspectors last month in a report on HMP Feltham B outside London which holds young men aged 18 to 21 stated that prisoners told inspectors they lived in fear of being assaulted, and many were too afraid to leave their cells to attend education. Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of Prisons, said: “The levels of violence that we found at Feltham were unacceptable. Nevertheless, prison staff were managing to deliver impressive work in very difficult circumstances, including to tackle and ultimately reduce violence.”
Picture by Mark Rowe; Maidstone Prison wall.
