Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had about the evidential use of images captured by the use of body-worn camera technology by police officers.
Answered by Lord Bates
The evidential use of body worn images is a matter for policing, with input from the criminal justice system. As the professional body for policing, the College of Policing published interim operational guidance in July 2014; this was developed in conjunction with a number of partners, including the courts and Crown Prosection Service. This guidance sets out the procedures police forces must use to ensure the integrity of body worn video evidence. Body Worn Video (BWV) footage is accepted as evidence in courts and there is real enthusiasm from the judiciary for its potential to encourage early guilty pleas and lead to significantly higher conviction rates.
However the College’s current guidance is clear that BWV material should be used to corroborate, rather than replace, traditional written statements and users should not rely on BWV for providing their evidence. Although a BWV recording may provide compelling evidence, it will not necessarily prove all aspects of a case and users must always be prepared to provide written evidence of anything pertinent to the case and not wholly represented by the recording.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to the data storage requirements arising from the increasing use of body-worn camera technology by the police.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and chief officers will make the decisions on how technology will be used by officers at a local level, including the data storage requirements arising from increased use of body worn videos.
Although storage solutions are an operational issue for policing, we are clear more needs to be done to enable forces to utilise body worn video in the most effective way to ensure that data can flow smoothly throughout the criminal justice system. This is why we are working with policing to embed interoperability between forces and encouraging the use of common standards. These standards will support data sharing across the criminal justice system, including policing, in a way that anyone can access and understand. Open standards along with the work of the Police ICT Company, will help to create an open and active market to deliver better value for police ICT spend.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the Home Secretary expects to decide whether to authorise the Metropolitan Police to use, under appropriate operational circumstances, the water cannons that the Mayor of London has purchased; and whether this decision will be made before the water cannons become usable.
Answered by Lord Bates
A key element of the established process for the approval of less lethal weapons, including water cannon, is an assessment by the Scientific Advisory Committee on the Medical Implications of Less-Lethal weapons. This has only recently been received. There are a number of scientific, medical, operational and ethical issues which need careful consideration.
The authorisation process states: “only less lethal weapons that have been approved by the Secretary of State may be used by the UK police service.” The Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime and the Metropolitan Police have stated that the water cannon would not be used until, and unless, they are authorised for use by the Home Secretary.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the statement by the Prime Minister on 25 November 2014 (HC Deb, col 749), how much of the extra £130 million allocated to combat terrorism in 2015–16 and 2016–17 is to be provided to the police counter-terrorism network.
Answered by Lord Bates
The police will receive an allocation from this funding however, for security reasons, the Government never breaks down the counter-terrorism policing budget into individual grants or allocations for reasons of national security.