The call for lawmen to wear body cameras have been increasing over the past few years, especially so since the recent advent of affordable high-def video cameras that are both rugged and lightweight. Over in the United States, complaints of police using excessive force against civilians (re: the cases of Eric Garner and Michael Brown) have driven legislators to push for body camera initiatives to capture any wrongdoing on tape.
Here in Singapore, police announced yesterday that officers across all 35 Neighbourhood Police Centres (NPC) will also start wearing body cameras in a bid to enhance frontline crime fighting capabilities.
Starting today, frontline police officers from the Bukit Merah West NPC will don the cameras, while officers from Ang Mo Kio North NPC, Bedok South NPC, Bukit Merah East NPC, Jurong West NPC, Toa Payoh NPC will start utilising the devices by June. Deployment of the cameras at all NPCs will be completed by next year.
Though the cameras will always be recording audio and video at all times during duties, officers will have the discretion to stop recording in sensitive situations, for example, when dealing with victims of sexual offences.
To prevent abuse of the video recordings, strict limits are enacted on the use of the footage; they'll be deleted after 31 days from the date of recording, unless it is required for investigations.
“The body-worn camera will facilitate Police investigations and the gathering of evidence," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) Lau Peet Meng remarked. "It will complement existing forensic methods to allow the Police to piece together what actually happened at an incident."
Photo: Singapore Police Force newsroom
The call for lawmen to wear body cameras have been increasing over the past few years, especially so since the recent advent of affordable high-def video cameras that are both rugged and lightweight. Over in the United States, complaints of police using excessive force against civilians (re: the cases of Eric Garner and Michael Brown) have driven legislators to push for body camera initiatives to capture any wrongdoing on tape.
Here in Singapore, police announced yesterday that officers across all 35 Neighbourhood Police Centres (NPC) will also start wearing body cameras in a bid to enhance frontline crime fighting capabilities.
Starting today, frontline police officers from the Bukit Merah West NPC will don the cameras, while officers from Ang Mo Kio North NPC, Bedok South NPC, Bukit Merah East NPC, Jurong West NPC, Toa Payoh NPC will start utilising the devices by June. Deployment of the cameras at all NPCs will be completed by next year.
Though the cameras will always be recording audio and video at all times during duties, officers will have the discretion to stop recording in sensitive situations, for example, when dealing with victims of sexual offences.
To prevent abuse of the video recordings, strict limits are enacted on the use of the footage; they'll be deleted after 31 days from the date of recording, unless it is required for investigations.
“The body-worn camera will facilitate Police investigations and the gathering of evidence," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) Lau Peet Meng remarked. "It will complement existing forensic methods to allow the Police to piece together what actually happened at an incident."
Photo: Singapore Police Force newsroom