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Police to start using body-worn cameras today

SINGAPORE — Starting today, frontline police officers from Bukit Merah West Neighbourhood Police Centre (NPC) will have video cameras clipped to their uniforms when they head out on patrols.

Police officers wearing mobile cameras used for investigations and crime scene interactions at the Police Workplan Seminar and Exhibition last year. Photo: Don Wong

Police officers wearing mobile cameras used for investigations and crime scene interactions at the Police Workplan Seminar and Exhibition last year. Photo: Don Wong

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SINGAPORE — Starting today, frontline police officers from Bukit Merah West Neighbourhood Police Centre (NPC) will have video cameras clipped to their uniforms when they head out on patrols.

They are the first to be armed with the men in blue’s latest crime-busting gadget. Over the next five months, officers from five other NPCs — Ang Mo Kio North, Bedok South, Bukit Merah East, Jurong West and Toa Payoh — will don these body-worn cameras. The rollout to the remaining 29 NPCs will be completed by June next year.

The cameras, which can capture audio and video recordings, will be rolling when officers are performing their duties. A blinking red LED light will indicate it is in recording mode.

First mooted by the Ministry of Home Affairs during the parliamentary debate on its budget last year, Second Home Affairs Minister S Iswaran had said the experience of police forces using similar body-worn cameras, such as in the United Kingdom and Canada, indicates that the equipment are “useful in deterring crime, calming rowdy members of the public and providing valuable investigative leads”.

In their report, the Committee of Inquiry on the Little India riot had also highlighted that such cameras, in addition to closed-circuit cameras and police in-vehicle cameras, would have helped the police better see what was happening on the ground and improve overall command and control.

On concerns about privacy issues, the police said yesterday that officers will have the discretion to stop recording in certain situations, such as when they are dealing with victims of sexual offences. Strict safeguards and limits have also been put in place on the use of the camera footage, they added.

“The footage will be deleted after 31 days from the date of recording, unless it is required for official use such as police investigations.”

On the deployment of the body-worn cameras, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) Lau Peet Meng said: “The body-worn camera will facilitate Police investigations and the gathering of evidence. It will complement existing forensic methods to allow the Police to piece together what actually happened at an incident.”

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