Local police to wear body-worn cameras from next week

SHETLAND’s police officers will be equipped with body-worn cameras from next week.

Shetland area commander chief inspector Chris Sewell gave the update to a meeting of the local community safety and resilience board on Wednesday.

Body-worn cameras are being rolled out across Police Scotland, with local officers undergoing training for their use ahead of going live on 17 June.

Sewell said it will be positive in terms of “police accountability” as well as acting as a deterrent to assaults on officers.

Because they could film footage of incidents, it is also believed that it would result in less time in court for officers, while complaints should take less time to deal with.

Police Scotland was previously the only force in the UK that does not have body worn cameras.

Sewell said all officers would wear them, and that the cameras would be mandatory.

He added that the Scottish Police Federation have lobbied for a while for the introduction of body-worn cameras.

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Police Scotland previously said that “every frontline uniformed police officer including special constables will be expected to wear a video camera on their uniform while on duty and to activate it when using police powers, whether it be a stop and search, an arrest of a suspect or executing a search warrant”.