Explainer: How will the new Garda body-worn cameras work in practice?

The body-worn cameras being used from Friday morning by hundreds of gardaí in Dublin have the capacity to capture video and audio, even when they have not been turned on.

Frontline Garda members based in Pearse Street, Store Street and Kevin Street in central Dublin began using the cameras on Friday morning. Henry Street Garda station in Limerick and Waterford City station will follow in coming months and when those stations are brought online a total of 700 cameras will be in operation.

Each camera has 64GB of hard drive, allowing for 16 hours of continuous recording if required, with time stamps and locations of recordings, including multiple locations if gardaí are mobile during an incident. The cameras will also vibrate every minute when recording to remind gardaí they are turned on.

It means though the use of the cameras in Dublin - and later in Limerick and Waterford - is a proof of concept project towards a national roll-out in about 12 months, body-worn cameras are now fully operational in the three main Dublin stations. They can, and will, be used immediately to ground criminal charges against suspects.

They will also be used by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission when members of the public make complaints about gardaí and could prove members of the force acted inappropriately, from cases of minor rudeness to serious criminal matters. “We see them as a very important tool of the organisation, as a system of gathering objective evidence which will contribute to the investigation of crime while also vindicating the rights of individuals, including Garda personnel,” said Chief Supt Derek Smart, the lead officer on the project for Limerick.

Source: Law Daily Report (lawdailyreport.net)

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