Baroness Sanderson of Welton
Main Page: Baroness Sanderson of Welton (Conservative - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Baroness Sanderson of Welton's debates with the Home Office
(3 years, 4 months ago)
Lords ChamberI totally agree with the noble Lord that space between online circulation of video and the police reactively putting the video online creates a vacuum for speculation and can undermine the criminal justice process, so I think speed is of the essence. For that reason, I am very grateful to the noble Lord for asking the Question.
My Lords, on a separate but related issue, in her HMIC report, Wendy Williams recommended that all forces should record the entirety of all stop and search encounters by September of this year and that external scrutiny panels should have access to that footage. As the use of stop and search has increased, public confidence in the process is more important than ever. Can my noble friend the Minister confirm whether police forces across the country intend to implement these recommendations?
I thank my noble friend for that question. As always, Wendy Williams’ report has come up with some very insightful recommendations. My noble friend will know that the use of body-worn video during stop and search is an operational decision for forces. The Home Office supports it as a tool for increasing transparency and accountability. My right honourable friend the Home Secretary reinforced that in her speech to the Police Federation conference early last month when she said that the Home Office would be
“looking carefully at strengthening the system of local community scrutiny and the value of body-worn video, because transparency”,
as the noble Lord, Lord Harris of Haringey, said, “is vital.”