100 body cams for Emergency Response Patrols

One hundred unused body cameras which were being kept in storage for unexplained reasons will be distributed to officers of the newly formed Emergency Response Patrols which was formerly launched last Thursday.

Yesterday police commissioner Gary Griffith said the cameras will be outfitted on officers of the new unit but he intends to purchase state of the art body cameras which will have the capacity to feed footage to the Operational Command Centre in real time.

According to Commissioner Griffith the body cameras were not being used extensively in the police service when he assumed duties in August and were only being used for certain operations.

However, he has taken a decision to use the 100 existing body cams purchased by the former acting commissioner Stephen Williams to outfit officers of the new unit while purchasing new body cameras.

Yesterday he said he did not wish to divulge if the Inter Agency Task Force officers who shot and killed five young men in Laventille last week were in possession of body cameras.

He added that because the investigation was ongoing this information could not be revealed.

He admitted that he was not pleased with the quality of footage of the existing body cameras hence his decision to purchase quality body cameras.

“I intend to outfit officers with about 100 cameras, I want real time video footage, so this is not just about officers having body cameras, if an officer commits an offence the recording will be there, but it will also be used to protect officers if they are wrongfully accused”.

He also underscored the importance of these body cameras. “We need these cameras to feed real time video footage back to operations Command Centre and the Commissioner’s Command Centre”.

According to the commissioner there are some shortcomings with the existing body cameras but he said the intention is to also outfit police vehicles assigned to the Emergency Response Patrol. “We will be putting cameras on top of vehicles so we will be able to get a much better viewing of what is transpiring. We need better quality cameras for our officers. “We do not need to put body cams on every officer, emergency response will be first to get them and those involved in major operations”.

Last Thursday during the launch of the Emergency Response Patrol the commissioner

rolled out the initiative after fewer than 100 days in office at the Police Academy in St James.

The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) launched its Emergency Response Patrol (EPR) unit armed with new products and technology, which includes GPS and cameras for 85 police vehicles, notepads, Tasers, pepper spray and rubber bullets.

Griffith said GPS on vehicles would not only ensure vehicles aren’t stolen (as has occurred in the past), but would also be used to track the location of officers from two new centres.

In 2017 then Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams announced police across the nine divisions will wear body cameras from August 1, as part of a TTPS pilot project.

However only officers of the Inter Agency Task Force were assigned the body cameras.

Last year the cameras were reassigned to officers in the Central Division.

When the cameras were purchased Williams said the police service planned to assess many aspects of policing and police interaction through the use of this project.

“These include the extent and nature of compliance with the use of body worn cameras, the quality of hotspot patrols, the use of force by police officers whilst out on duty. Firearm discharge by police officers, injuries caused to police officers during police civilian interactions.”