Legislation paving the way for body cameras coming soon

The legislation paving the way for police officers to use body cameras, to record
incidents between them and members of the public is coming soon.
That is according to Information Minister, Melford Nicholas, speaking at
Thursday’s Post-Cabinet press briefing. He said the current legislation does not
make way for video evidence from body cams to be used in criminal proceedings.
However, he noted that the government is quite mindful of the usefulness and
effectiveness of these technologies, and efforts are being made to make the
necessary adjustments to the law.
Nicholas reported that the matter has been referred to the Attorney General’s
chambers where the legal draft personnel are expected to prepare documentation to
take to parliament for an amendment to the Criminal Proceedings Act.
The minister expected that changes will be made to the legislation, regarding this
issue shortly. He noted that a benefactor has already made a donation of body cams
to the government.
The issue of body cams for the police was raised at Thursday’s Post-Cabinet press
briefing. The second in charge of the Criminal Investigations Department, Supt.
Lisborn Michael said he has no difficulty with the use of body cams but he said the
legislation must first be changed to make that happen.