Latest news with #bodyworncameras
BBC News
16-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Body-worn camera trial at Maidstone Hospital begins
A trial for staff at a hospital in Kent to wear body-worn cameras has members of emergency department staff at Maidstone Hospital will wear the cameras in an attempt to increase the safety of staff, patients and members of the public, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (MTW) 12-week trial has been introduced in response to an increase in "challenging behaviour" across emergency departments, the trust Dunnett, head of security management at MTW, said: "The safety and wellbeing of our staff, patients and visitors always comes first." He added: "The aim of the body-warn camera trial is to create a safer environment for everyone visiting, and working in, the emergency department, and forms part of a wider project to reduce abusive behaviour across our hospitals."Other trials in the UK have shown the use of body-worn cameras was effective in reducing violence and aggression, preventing situations from escalating and making NHS staff feel safer at work, the trust said. Review carried out Footage from the cameras can also be used if further action is needed to be taken following an wearing the cameras are to activate them in situations where they experience abuse or feel threatened, and only after they have notified the individual that they are going to be trial will be fully compliant with data protection requirements, the trust added.A review will take place at the end of the trial to evaluate its success and determine next steps.A previous BBC investigation discovered more than 1,700 physical assaults were recorded on NHS hospital staff in the South East between 2018 and 2022.
CTV News
11-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Lethbridge Police Service asking city council for more funding to buy, use body-worn cameras
The Lethbridge economic and finance standing policy committee approved a request for funding that will provide body-worn cameras by police officers. It's a step closer in the process to get body-worn cameras purchased and implemented for police officers in Lethbridge. Lethbridge Police Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh went before the city's economic and finance standing policy committee (SPC) Thursday, asking for $550,000 this year to purchase cameras and $914,000 next year to use them. If approved by council, funding will come from the city's municipal revenue stabilization reserve (MRSR). The SPC passed the recommendation, which will now go to a future city council meeting to be fully approved. At this time, no funding has been authorized. Lethbridge City Council, July 10, 2025 A Lethbridge municipal sub committee voted Wednesday to fund the use of body-worn cameras on Lethbridge police officers. (Photo: Karsen Marczuk, CTV Lethbridge) 'Use of technology is becoming more and more critical in our service delivery and insuring transparency and what we do every day,' said Mehdizadeh. 'Certainly, this is welcome news.' Mandatory In March 2023, the province announced that body-worn cameras would become mandatory for all police officers in Alberta by the end of next year. 'It's not just about the complaints against the officers, really, that's one element of what these cameras bring,' explained Mehdizadeh. 'But we know best evidence is what you capture on video, audio and all those other components that this technology will bring, which really heightens the way our officers investigate.' The cost of a camera is $490, DEMS licence is $1,540 and disclosure is $3,530 for a total cost of $5,560 annually. The SPC heard that 165 cameras would be needed for frontline officers. Mehdizadeh said the funding will also cover licencing and disclosure. To use the cameras after 2026, Mehdizadeh is asking that the additional funding be included in the city's 2027 and 2028-31 operating budget. If city council approves the recommendation, the city will have costs of about $725,000 annually for three years and nearly $1 million a year after the grant expires. A funding grant is available, but the city would cover 78 per cent of costs, while the province covers 22 per cent or $205,471 per year for three years. 'We would have wanted the province to contribute more financially and that doesn't mean they won't in the future,' said Noella Piquette, chair of the Lethbridge Police Commission. 'For right now, the sum that they provided we know, and they know, and the police service knows that it's not enough to support this, but we will find a way.' 'This is provincially mandated, and we will meet the request.'
ABC News
08-07-2025
- ABC News
Accidentally unredacted document reveals issues with children at Tasmanian watch houses
Staff at two Tasmanian prisons have "urgently" requested body-worn cameras and reported "high levels of anxiety" when managing children in watch houses, a mistakenly unredacted document shows. Using the Right to Information (RTI) process, the ABC requested information about complaints or concerns regarding Tasmanian children being held in adult custodial facilities — where they await court, bail or police interview. RTI — sometimes called Freedom of Information — is a system that helps people access documents and other public-interest information held by public authorities. When journalists or members of the public receive documents through RTI, they are usually partly blacked out as to not disclose information. The ABC made an RTI request to the Department of Justice, the public authority for the Tasmanian Prison Service. Two months later, a 14-page document was received. See more details of the ABC's request, the information provided and relevant parts of the Right to Information Act, here. By mistake, the document received was completely free from redaction, revealing in full an "issues register" from 2024, where prison staff listed concerns around the detention of children in watch houses and the Department of Justice responded with suggestions or actions to address them. Within minutes the department sent another email saying they "would like to recall" the document. It then sent a second, corrected version of the document, which was completely redacted aside from several paragraphs and a one-page introduction. Watch houses are designed for temporary detention and lack the facilities of long-term prisons or detention centres. The department told the ABC that redactions were made where the document contained personally identifying information, deliberative information, and information "out-of-scope" of the request. The unredacted version contained no names or personally identifying details. The ABC has decided to publish this story, after reviewing the information. The ABC can reveal the hidden information was indicative of staff concerns that: The Department of Justice has since told the ABC: The department said it was in the final stages of acquiring body-worn cameras in reception prisons — where watch houses are located — "with implementation expected before the end of the year". In the issues register, the department responded to staff concerns about health and hygiene risks for children, saying it would "upgrade infrastructure to allow young people to tend to basic hygiene and self-care". "Reducing the risk of trauma to young people in reception prisons remains a key priority. The department is committed to ongoing improvements." Tasmanian prison staff, who manage youth in watch houses on behalf of Tasmania Police, said police officers "regularly" told detainees they "will be at the WH [watch house] for a little while" — which can negatively impact their mental and physiological state. Dysregulation refers to an inability to control or regulate emotional responses. Staff also said police provided insufficient information when transferring people to watch houses, resulting in "significant operational risks and impacts the safety of detainees". But police say an admission form for each detainee outlining personal details, behavioural risks, medical information and child safety concerns is provided to prison staff. "Tasmania Police aims to provide timely and accurate information to prison staff regarding a youth in custody at the time the youth is detained," a police spokesperson said. The department said over the next five years it intended to "advocate for Youth Justice Blueprint to incorporate watch house facility for young people". Johan Lidberg, an associate professor at Monash University, believed because the document was "in the highest public interest" and did not identify people, it was not reasonable to keep it hidden — and considered the "personal information" exemption did not apply. The department was asked for more details on the decision to not disclose the information. It replied: "As outlined in the right to information decision, if you are dissatisfied with the decision you may seek an internal review under section 43 of the Right to Information Act 2009 (the Act)." The ABC requested details of: "Complaints, concerns or similar regarding children and young people being held in an adult remand facility and related correspondence from 2022 to 2025." One 14-page document was given to the ABC titled "Engaging with Young People Training — Issues and Responses". It included a one-page introduction and then a table with two columns — one outlining staff-raised issues with dealing with young people in watch houses and the other with the department's written response to the issue. It was initially completely unredacted but with red outline boxes left around some sections, and then, minutes later a version with those boxes redacted was sent through in which almost all the document was redacted. The initial introduction as well as some sections on pages 2 and 3 were left unredacted. No staff or detainees were named in the document. The department said redactions were made according to the following parts of Tasmania's Right to Information Act: Exemptions subject to public interest test Section 35 — 'Internal deliberative information' I consider that disclosing the above listed items, which contain material compiled by departmental officers may contain information which is wrong or inaccurate — see clause (u) of Schedule 1. The material contains records of ongoing consultations between officers, including material which is deliberative in nature. It is also important to note that the material relates to exchanges by relatively junior Departmental employees and there is no information to indicate their views would be adopted as a formal policy. I also consider that the nature of the comments of Departmental officers are deliberate in nature and should not be disclosed. Officers must feel free to provide their opinions, advice and recommendations, and to participate openly in consultative and deliberative processes, in order for decision and action resulting from those processes to be robust. The overriding public interest consideration is the need to ensure that there is a frank exchange of views between officers when making decisions. The disclosure of consultations or deliberations would likely prevent such exchanges from occurring, with a consequent detrimental impact on good decision-making. Further, it would also lead to a reluctance to document the reasons for decision, with a consequent loss in transparency in the decision-making process. Section 36 — 'Personal information of a person' I consider that disclosing the personal information of members of the public would be detrimental to the interests of those persons — see clause (m) of Schedule 1. The personal information of people who have been held at a watch-house is not in the public domain and those persons might suffer discrimination by reason of their having been in these facilities if disclosed. As a consequence of the above, I am of the opinion that the factor favouring disclosure are outweighed by those against disclosure and it is not in the public interest to provide the personal information of a members of the public. 'Information out of scope' I consider that part of the material contains information which is out of scope of your request. The relevant material has been redacted and marked accordingly.
CTV News
24-06-2025
- CTV News
Ottawa police to equip some officers with body-worn cameras by end of the year
At least 50 Ottawa police officers will be equipped with body-worn cameras while on duty by the end of the year. The Ottawa Police Services Board was told the service was preparing to launch a body-worn camera pilot project by the end of the year while discussing the 2024 use of force data report. 'There is a lot of different opinions about body-worn cameras, but part of the goal is to get a better picture of what occurred during an incident,' Chief Eric Stubbs told the board Monday night. 'It could be a use-of-force incident, it could be evidentiary and whatnot. In terms of having more tools to understand what occurred, there's no doubt that body-worn cameras will help that. It's accountability on both sides – it's accountability for the member; it's also accountability for the citizen as well, if they do make allegations, then we can check some of that on the body-worn camera.' The Ottawa Police Service initially planned to launch a pilot project to equip officers with body cameras at the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025, but the rollout was delayed at least year a year due to financial pressures. Deputy Chief Steve Bell says while there is no recommendation from the Ottawa Police Service's use of force Committee on body-worn cameras yet, committee members have identified a 'challenge' of not having any evidence of what happened at the time of the use of force involving an officer. Bell said police are looking at deploying body-worn cameras on officers who respond to mental health and crisis intervention calls. The 2024 use of force data showed officers displayed or used force against one or more individuals in 251 incidents in 2024, down from 251 incidents in 2023. A total of 316 people were involved in use of force incidents in 2024, according to police. Staff say the most common incidents involving use of force were calls relating to weapons (16 per cent of calls), warrant execution (14 per cent), violent crime (12 per cent) and a person in crisis (12 per cent). The board was told that 'handgun drawn' and 'handgun pointed' represented the majority of use of force types by officers. The report says racialized individuals made up 57 per cent of all people involved in use of force incidents in 2024, up 11 per cent from the year before. Staff say the data shows police officers disproportionately used force against Black and Middle Eastern residents in 2024. Black and Middle Eastern people were 3.3 times more likely to be subject to police force compared to their population. 'Both Black and Middle Eastern subjects were over-represented in use of force incidents, relative to their share of Ottawa's population (3.3 times),' the report said. 'In considering when force was applied, 22 Black subjects and nine Middle Eastern subjects had force applied against them in 2024.' 'Indigenous subjects have been over-represented in use of force incidents in the past but were not over-represented in 2024, neither as subjects (11) nor as those against whom force was applied (5).' The data shows while White residents make up 68 per cent of Ottawa's population, they were involved in 43 per cent of use of force incidents with police in 2024. Black residents account for eight per cent of the population and were involved in 26 per cent of use of force incidents. Middle Eastern people were involved in 20 per cent of force incidents, while making up six per cent of the population. Police services in Ontario are required to submit a use-of-force report when an officer draws a handgun in the presence of a member of the public, points a firearm at a person or discharges a weapon, uses a weapon on another person, draws, displays or discharges a conducted energy weapon and uses physical force that results in an injury requiring medical attention.
BBC News
17-06-2025
- BBC News
Hope body-worn cameras help tackle officer assaults
A roll out of body-worn video cameras has started in a Police Scotland division where attacks per officer are higher than anywhere else in the 400 officers, including road policing personnel and dog handlers, will be equipped with the new devices in the Highlands and Scotland said threats and assaults against officers were proportionately higher in the area than anywhere else in were 363 assaults recorded in 2024-25 in Highlands and Islands Division. The five-year average for the area is 332. It is the force's largest division in terms of geographical area, and includes the Highlands, Western Isles and Northern Isles. Highlands and Islands divisional commander, Ch Supt Robert Shepherd, said the new technology would help protect the public and frontline officers, especially those working in remote told BBC Scotland News: "They might be the only officer for two to three hours in any direction."They maybe more reticent to arrest people, which leads to people feeling a permissive environment to maybe push things further with an officer."Ch Supt Robert Shepherd said: "Most members of the public are less likely to assault or abuse a police officer if they are made aware they are being recorded."The senior officer told Highland councillors in 2023 he hoped the division would be the first to receive the technology due to the number of assaults on nationwide roll out of the cameras started in March, and was expected to take 18 months to completed. Officers in Tayside were the first to receive move will bring Police Scotland into line with other UK police forces which have had the cameras as standard for many units were rolled out across England and Wales after being first trialled in Plymouth in Scotland said the Motorola Solutions VB400 cameras would provide extra protection for officers and the public by recording evidence which can be used in court.
