Almost 5,000 Victoria Police body cameras already in operation

The roll out of police body worn cameras across Victoria has quietly begun.

Neil Mitchell today revealed that almost 5,000 police body cameras are already in use.

Today, police will strap the cameras on for the first time in the Geelong, Kingston and Glen Eira areas.

Victoria Police hopes to roll out 11,000 cameras to uniformed police by November.

Russell Barrett, Assistant Commissioner for Professional Standards, said he thinks the cameras “have a bit of a calming effect”.

“The people are aware the camera is on, so they might act differently towards police, and again, the police understand the cameras are on, so they’ll act differently to the community,” he told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell.

Mr Barrett said the cameras are easily identifiable.

“When it’s on there’s a light that activates, so it’s fairly obvious that it’s there,” he said.

Police are required to switch the cameras on whenever they are exercising a policing power.

Members of the public are unable to request not to be filmed.

The footage taken will be uploaded to a cloud when police return to a police station.

If an offence is detected the footage will be stored for use as evidence and may be used in court.

If no offence occurs the video footage will be deleted after 90 days.

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