Police Scotland operating with fewer BWV cameras than two years ago, FoI reveals

A Freedom of Information (FoI) request response to the party reveals that only 849 cameras are currently available to the force, which is almost 100 fewer than were in operation in 2022.

Shadow Justice Secretary Liam Kerr says it is “common sense” that every hardworking officer should have access to this equipment and criticised the SNP for their “shamefully slow” rollout of the cameras.

He said the decline in the number of body-worn cameras comes in the wake of Chief Constable Jo Farrell being unable to give a timescale as to when the rollout would be completed when questioned in the Scottish Parliament last month.

Mr Kerr says that the protective kit would instantly give greater protection to officers in the line of duty and that video technology could also help tackle court backlogs.

He added that SNP ministers who are presiding over the lowest officer numbers in 17 years are “totally disconnected” from the reality facing Scotland’s police officers on a daily basis and urged them to ensure every one of them has access to a body-worn camera as soon as possible.

In June, Police Scotland agreed a national contract to implement body worn video for frontline officers and staff across Scotland, over the next three years.

The £13.3 million contract with Motorola Solutions UK included the purchase of 10,500, Home Office-approved VB400 cameras and supporting back-office systems.

Mr Kerr said the FoI shows that ‘currently, only armed policing officers and some officers in our North East Division use BWV.

Police Scotland has said, however, that it intended that all officers will be equipped with BWV over the next three years.’ It  also detailed that armed policing officers have 600 BWV cameras and 249 cameras are in circulation across Grampian.

Mr Kerr said: “It is shocking that Police Scotland now have access to even fewer body-worn cameras than the already pitiful number available to hardworking officers two years ago.

“Officers elsewhere in the UK have access to this protective kit and it is just common sense that all of them should. Yet fewer than 900 in Scotland now do, which is a damning indictment of the SNP’s neglect of our police.

“Their planned rollout of these cameras has been shamefully slow and beset with constant delays. The chief constable could not even give a timescale as to when the rollout will be completed when questioned last month in Parliament.

“That simply is not good enough when we know these cameras give greater protection to officers and could help ease the backlogs in our court system.

“Officers are exasperated on many fronts, and this is one of them. For years they’ve been demanding cameras, and things have only gone backwards.”

He added: “SNP ministers who are presiding over the lowest officer numbers since they came to power in 2007 are totally disconnected from the everyday reality facing them.

“The Scottish Conservatives have repeatedly uncovered the SNP’s failures to get on with delivering these cameras. This latest appalling revelation should be an urgent wake-up call for the SNP’s justice secretary to finally confirm every officer will have access to a body-worn camera as quickly as possible.”

According to the latest police officer quarterly strength statistics, the number of police officers in Scotland has fallen to its lowest level in 17 years. As of June 30, 2024, there were 16,207 full-time equivalent police officers in Scotland. The previous low was in quarter one of 2008 where the number stood at 16,222 but Mr Kerr said the latest statistics fall below that, meaning that the latest data shows the “lowest number of officers recorded since at least 2007”.