Can body-worn cameras benefit people’s trust in the police?
The question was at the center of Friday's debate at Kunstforeningen Gammel Strand, hosted by Milestone Systems.
In Denmark, unlike in many other countries, body-worn cameras are not widely used by the police. However, in the wake of a series of controversial arrests in the fall, there has been a renewed debate about the need for ways to increase transparency and documentation of the encounters between police officers and citizens.
Here are some key takeaways from the debate. A big thank you to the excellent panel Anja Møller Pedersen, Danish Institute for Human Rights, Frederik Jepsen and Ole Sønder, Politiforbundet:
💡 Everyone, both the police and the citizens, have an interest in transparency and objective documentation of an incident to build and maintain trust in the police
💡 Research suggests, that in 70 percent of complaints against the police in Denmark, within certain types of cases, there is no objective documentation of what occurred.
💡 If a complaint against the police ends up at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), reverse burden of proof is a principle that often comes into play. Data from body-worn cameras can help provide this documentation.
💡 Body-worn cameras in the police can both support and challenge the adherence to human rights, depending on how they are implemented.
💡 An implementation needs to consider and balance the rights of both the police officers and the citizens. For example, the right to privacy.
💡 To secure trust and protect human rights there is a need for clear guidelines for data storage, privacy protection, and camera activation.
💡 Sufficient and secure storage of data will pose an economic burden. This, along with undecided guidelines for camera activation, seems to be the largest barrier to the implementation of body-worn cameras today.
Also, big thanks to the audience for engaging and taking part in the debate.
#responsibletech #security #police #trust
They’ve had them there for years. I saw one used on the case of a homeless man who stole from Sears.