POLICE officers in Bunbury will be the first to trial the use of body-worn video cameras starting Monday morning.
Training has begun in Bunbury with the cameras to be worn in public from Monday as part of a WA Police trial coordinated by the evidence based policing team.
Officers in Perth will start training with the cameras from the middle of May before they come into operation in June.
Deputy Commissioner Operations Stephen Brown said it will be compulsory for officers issued with cameras to use them as part of standard deployment through the trial.
“The cameras are high visibility, with a standard script for officers to inform members of the public they are being filmed,” he said.
“The cameras will only be worn on selected days in keeping with the trial design. The outcomes for days when the cameras are worn will be compared to days when the cameras are not worn, to allow the strongest scientific grounds for concluding that the different outcomes are caused by the presence of the cameras.”
WA Police has reached an agreement with Taser International in partnership with Breon Defence systems to supply the cameras for the trial.
“We’ll be using two separate devices, the Axon Flex and the Axon Body 2 cameras,” Deputy Commissioner Brown said.
“The Axon Flex features a lightweight, point-of-view camera, mounted on the frame of glasses with removable lenses.
“We think our officers will be very keen to use these cameras, particularly given the benefits demonstrated in other jurisdictions over the past decade.”
Deputy Premier and Police Minister Liza Harvey said it was anticipated the camera footage would protect both the public and police officers as they went about their daily duties.
"Our police officers do an exceptional and challenging job and we will be examining if the body worn video contributes to early guilty pleas and helps to reduce assaults on officers. We will also look at whether the cameras reduce complaints against police," Ms Harvey said.
"Body worn video can also provide greater credibility for police and result in calmer interactions between police and offenders as they both know they are being filmed."
WA Police wants to test BWV in a West Australian setting to determine if similar benefits can be achieved.
The intent is to establish evidence on whether BWV can produce the following outcomes:
• Increase early guilty pleas
• Provide frontline efficiencies in records of interview
• Reduce the need for use of force by police officers
• Reduce complaints/false reports against the police
• Reduce assaults against police
• Reduce fear of crime in local communities and increase public reassurance
• Improve police legitimacy
• Improve behaviours for police and the community
Officers from regional operations group and mounted unit who regularly attend night operations in Northbridge will also be issued with cameras as part of the trial in Perth.
In all, approximately 300 devices have been procured for the trial, which will run for six months.
