Wiltshire PCSOs will now carry body cameras while out on duty
POLICE community support officers in North Wiltshire have been issued with body cameras to help in the fight against crime.
PCSOs in Malmesbury, Cricklade, Ashton Keynes and Minety have all received the small devices as part of a wider scheme to equip officers throughout the county.
The cameras are designed to be worn on the officer’s protective body armour and have a screen that displays the video being recorded.
Critics of the cameras have argued that they present a further invasion of privacy in a society that is already under mass surveillance.
However Malmesbury’s PCSO Michaela Lareine believes this is not the case.
She said: “It helps us to back up complaints as it is good for recording first accounts. “They are not on all the time but they are beneficiary to have as and when we need them.
“Really it’s partly to protect other people and partly to protect us.
“We need to inform people that we are recording, if we are asked to turn them off, we don’t have to without good reason.”
One such reason could be if the officer is dealing with a victim of abuse who doesn’t want to be recorded.
The cameras can then be turned to be pointing away so that it can still record sound.
[“source-ndtv”]
