Police deploys body cameras in May

Police deploys body cameras in May

As part of efforts to improve the transparency and accountability of the police, the Police Administration will deploy its first body cameras in May of this year.

The police body cameras are small goal cameras, often worn on the chest of an officer to capture pictures. It has a microphone for recording sounds and an internal memory for data or sequences for later badysis and badysis.

Alex Amponsah-Asiamah, Assistant Director of Police Services (DCOP), told the Daily Graphic during an interview in Accra that the police administration was going to be the first to receive batch of 300 body cameras mid-April this year.

He added that 3,000 pieces should be delivered by the end of the year.

Mr Amponsah-Asiamah explained that the decision to use body cameras was part of the police transformation program in order to boost public confidence in the service.

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backlash

Two major incidents last week provoked a brutal response from the police regarding their lack of accountability.

In the first case, a police officer reportedly badaulted three journalists from the Ghanaian Times. The officer allegedly seized the cell phone that one of the reporters was using to record a crime involving the police officer.

In the second case, a driver and his companion, currently on remand, were captured in a viral video attacking another police officer.
Members of the public wondered what could have triggered the incident because the video was only capturing the badault.

Evidence

Mr Amponsah-Asiamah said that the use of body cameras by police on the ground would solve some of these problems.

He added that cameras on the body would also instill discipline and control the misplaced police behavior on the ground.

According to him, before a police officer receives a camera for the body, it would be tested to ensure that the sound, cameras and recording functions were working.

"If you come back from the field and can not produce a report of your operation from the body camera, you will have to answer," he said.

Mr. Amponsah-Asiamah stated that it would be in the interests of the police to use the cameras because if a case was reported against a police officer during an operation or d & # 39; an exercise, but that there was no record of support, this officer would certainly be in trouble.

Get used to it

Dr. Benjamin Agordzor, Deputy Commissioner of Police (ACP), said he had to record videos showing the actions of the police. It did not matter who had taken them.

"The sooner we got used to it and changed our attitudes, the better. We can never justify the aggression of the police officer and his companion against the police officer, regardless of the conduct of the police officer; nor can we ever justify the badault on the three journalists, whether they take pictures of us or not.

We must leave such negative trends and attitudes behind us, "he said.

According to Dr. Agordzor, videos were a key element of collecting evidence because of their graphic nature.

Body cameras

Police body cameras are used around the world.

In 2015, in response to the number of high profile shots of unarmed black men by police officers, President of the United States of America, President Barack Obama, is committed to fund a national program to equip the departments with surveillance cameras.

As a result of this, law enforcement agencies in 45 US states received funding from the policy and enforcement program for cameras worn by the Department of Justice Corps, which spent more than $ 58 million between 2015 and 2017.