By Bill Heaney
A “shocking” decline in the number of body-worn cameras available to Police Scotland has been uncovered by the Scottish Conservatives.
A Freedom of Information request response to the party reveals that only 849 cameras are currently available to the force, which is almost 100 fewer than were in operation in 2022.
Shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr says it is “common sense” that every hardworking officer should have access to this equipment and slammed the SNP for their “shamefully slow” rollout of the cameras.
The decline in the number of body-worn cameras comes in the wake of Chief Constable Jo Farrell being unable to give a timescale as to when the rollout would be completed when questioned in the Scottish Parliament last month.
Liam Kerr says that the protective kit would instantly give greater protection to officers in the line of duty and that video technology could also help tackle court backlogs.
Tory spokesperson Liam Kerr and Chief Constable Jo Farrell.
He added that SNP ministers who are presiding over the lowest officer numbers in 17 years are “totally disconnected” from the reality facing Scotland’s police officers on a daily basis and urged them to ensure every one of them has access to a body-worn camera as soon as possible.
Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr MSP said: “It is shocking that Police Scotland now have access to even fewer body-worn cameras than the already pitiful number available to hardworking officers two years ago.
“Officers elsewhere in the UK have access to this protective kit and it is just common sense that all of them should. Yet fewer than 900 in Scotland now do, which is a damning indictment of the SNP’s neglect of our police.
“Their planned rollout of these cameras has been shamefully slow and beset with constant delays. The Chief Constable could not even give a timescale as to when the rollout will be completed when questioned last month in Parliament.
“That simply is not good enough when we know these cameras give greater protection to officers and could help ease the backlogs in our court system.
“Officers are exasperated on many fronts, and this is one of them. For years they’ve been demanding cameras, and things have only gone backwards.
“SNP ministers who are presiding over the lowest officer numbers since they came to power in 2007 are totally disconnected from the everyday reality facing them.
“The Scottish Conservatives have repeatedly uncovered the SNP’s failures to get on with delivering these cameras. This latest appalling revelation should be an urgent wake-up call for the SNP’s justice secretary to finally confirm every officer will have access to a body-worn camera as quickly as possible.”
Briefing:
Police Scotland confirm that less than 900 police officers can currently use body worn video. In response to an FOI requesting details on the current use of body-worn video Police Scotland confirmed that ‘currently, only Armed Policing Officers and some officers in our North East Division use BWV. It is however intended that all officers will be equipped with [BWV] over the next three years.’ They also detailed that Armed Policing have 600 body worn video cameras and 249 cameras are in circulation across Grampian. (FOI – Police Scotland, 11 October 2024, available on request).
The number of police officers in Scotland has fallen to their lowest level during the SNP’s 17 years of leadership. As of 30 June 2024 there were 16,207 full-time equivalent police officers in Scotland. The previous low was in Q1 of 2008 where the number stood at 16,222 but the latest statistics fall below that meaning that the latest data shows the lowest number of officers recorded since at least 2007. (Police officer quarterly strength statistics: 30 June 2024, 6 August 2024, link).
In June Police Scotland announced it had agreed a deal for body worn video. Police Scotland announced they had agreed a national contract to implement body worn video for frontline officers and staff across Scotland, over the next three years. The contract, with Motorola Solutions UK Limited was agreed for £13.3m and included the purchase of 10,500 ‘Home Office-approved VB400 cameras.’ (Police Scotland, June 2024, link).
Despite the roll-out already being delayed, Chief Constable Jo Farrell was unable to provide a timescale on when these will be delivered. Jo Farrell told the Criminal Justice Committee: ‘On the timescale, I would make a request to the committee that I update it in due course, because a significant amount of work is still to be done. When I am more confident about the precise date, I will come back or write to committee.’ (Official Report, 11 September 2024, link).
The Scottish Government previously said the first phase of the roll-out would be completed by 2026. In the Scottish Government ‘Three Year Delivery Plan’ for Justice in Scotland, they confirmed that the timescale for the first phase of the roll-out of body worn video, that to front line officers and staff, would be completed between 2024-25 and 2025-26. (The Vision for Justice in Scotland: Three Year Delivery Plan 2023-24 to 2025-26, 6 November 2023, link).
Despite being the second largest Police service in the UK, Police Scotland is the only one not to have body-worn video as standard equipment. Body-worn cameras were first trialled in Scotland in 2012 in the then Grampian Police Force, but little action has been taken to widely implement them in the last 10 years. Meanwhile, the UK’s largest Police Force, the Met had given cameras to at least 80% of their force by 2021. (BBC News, 11 September 2024, link; Huck FOI, 27 January 2022, link).