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Police will commence a six-month field trial of the body worn video camera (BWVC) on March 11 to assess the effectiveness of its use in policing.
A Police spokesman said today (February 22): ¡°Police is duty bound to prevent and detect crimes and offences as mandated in the Police Force Ordinance.
¡°To carry out this duty effectively, the Force has been dedicated to continuous improvement, and technology is one of the areas that we have been exploring to enhance police officers¡¯ professional abilities.¡±
During the field trial which will involve Emergency Units of New Territories North and Kowloon West Regions, and Police Tactical Unit of Hong Kong Island Region, the BWVC will be used in confrontational scenarios, or incidents where a breach of the peace has occurred or is likely to occur.
To govern the use of BWVC, a set of detailed Standard Operating Procedures has been put in place. Any recording made by BWVC would be incident-specific. The officer using BWVC will be in uniform, overtly wear the camera with its display screen facing outward and, where reasonably practicable, notify the person prior to the commencement of the recording.
Police will also take sufficient and practicable steps to comply with the requirements of Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (PDPO) when handling the collected personal data.
Only trained officers are allowed to operate the BWVC and access the Digital Storage Media (DSM).
Footage with investigative or evidential value will be treated as case exhibit and be retained for investigation and court proceedings. Once the purpose of collection has been fulfilled, the captured video will be destroyed.
Footage carrying no investigative or evidential value or other legitimate purpose will be deleted after 31 days from the date it was produced.
Any data access request by affected persons shall be processed under the PDPO. Information relating to data access is available at this hyperlink:
http://www.police.gov.hk/ppp_en/11_useful_info/aida.html
¡°Reference has been made to overseas experience in which some police forces have been using BWVC with positive outcomes in terms of reduction of crime and complaints.
¡°The Force hopes, by adopting appropriate technology, officers¡¯ capabilities of evidence gathering could be further enhanced so as to prevent and detect crime.
¡°We expect that a higher degree of transparency and accountability of Police actions could also be achieved,¡± the spokesman added.
A comprehensive review will be conducted upon the conclusion of the field trial to explore the way forward.
Police Report No. 217
Issued by PPRB
Ends/Friday, February 22, 2013
Issued at HKT 17:28
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