>Poppy Koronka
>Wednesday January 11 2023, 12.01am GMT, The Times
>Police officers in Scotland can “kiss goodbye” to hopes of basic equipment such as body cameras after a “woeful” budget settlement, it has been claimed.
>Scotland’s is the only force in the UK in which the devices are not issued to them as standard. Police Scotland had only 940 at the end of last year.
>A scheme to equip 18,000 police officers with the cameras over the next five years is now in jeopardy after the national force’s capital funding was cut.
>While police funding has increased by a total of £80 million, this was ring-fenced for day-to-day spending.
>The capital budget, which is intended for equipment, buildings and vehicles, has been frozen at £50.1 million.
>Last year, the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland warned ministers that budget freezes would leave “policing in Scotland further behind other UK services”. It was hoped that footage from the cameras could be used for evidence, cut the court backlog and provide more efficient justice.
>David Hamilton, chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, said: “While the Scottish government has allocated a marginally better than feared revenue budget, the woeful capital budget risks wiping out any optimism.
>“Scottish policing can effectively kiss goodbye to any aspirations of having wide-scale body-worn video, let alone a world-leading cybercrime capability.
>“Expectations of policing and indeed of assurance will now need to change as the service is starved of the funds needed to service our communities and face the challenges it has identified.”
>“We are the only [police] force in the UK now that doesn’t have body cameras. In fact, many public bodies, such as Scot Rail, have body cameras.”
>Chief Constable Sir Iain Livingstone has welcomed the improvement in the overall policing budget but said that financing the police would be difficult. He said: “Hard choices lie ahead to deliver effective policing within the revenue budget available and our capital funding remains significantly lower than that needed to progress improvement to our technology, buildings and vehicles.”
>Police officials previously warned that the freeze to the capital budget would leave police buildings “in decay”.
>The Scottish Police Federation warned that “leaking buildings, riddled with mould, fungus and damp” would add to victims’ and witnesses’ trauma.
>The Scottish government said: “While allocation of resources within Police Scotland is a matter for the chief constable, we remain fully committed to using the resources available to us to support the vital work of Police Scotland in delivering effective and responsive policing across Scotland.
>“That’s why we will invest £1.45 billion in 2023-24 in our national force, an increase of 6.3 per cent, with £45.5 million for investment in assets such as buildings, vehicles and technology such as body-worn cameras.”
The fact that Scot Rail have the budget for cameras but not the police is quite a shock, although I’m sure the number of employed has a big factor in that.
Everyone loses in this situation. Police need the cameras to support their claims and the public need those cameras to ensure accountability. Also cybercrime, which is surely something we need to have a better grip on.
Another 10 years or so and cgi, AI and deep fake technology will render any video footage admissible in court anyway. No one really seems to know how we’re going to handle that.
More like they don’t want to be held accountable for everything they do
4 comments
>#Police budget deal dashes bodycam hopes
>Poppy Koronka
>Wednesday January 11 2023, 12.01am GMT, The Times
>Police officers in Scotland can “kiss goodbye” to hopes of basic equipment such as body cameras after a “woeful” budget settlement, it has been claimed.
>Scotland’s is the only force in the UK in which the devices are not issued to them as standard. Police Scotland had only 940 at the end of last year.
>A scheme to equip 18,000 police officers with the cameras over the next five years is now in jeopardy after the national force’s capital funding was cut.
>While police funding has increased by a total of £80 million, this was ring-fenced for day-to-day spending.
>The capital budget, which is intended for equipment, buildings and vehicles, has been frozen at £50.1 million.
>Last year, the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland warned ministers that budget freezes would leave “policing in Scotland further behind other UK services”. It was hoped that footage from the cameras could be used for evidence, cut the court backlog and provide more efficient justice.
>David Hamilton, chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, said: “While the Scottish government has allocated a marginally better than feared revenue budget, the woeful capital budget risks wiping out any optimism.
>“Scottish policing can effectively kiss goodbye to any aspirations of having wide-scale body-worn video, let alone a world-leading cybercrime capability.
>“Expectations of policing and indeed of assurance will now need to change as the service is starved of the funds needed to service our communities and face the challenges it has identified.”
>“We are the only [police] force in the UK now that doesn’t have body cameras. In fact, many public bodies, such as Scot Rail, have body cameras.”
>Chief Constable Sir Iain Livingstone has welcomed the improvement in the overall policing budget but said that financing the police would be difficult. He said: “Hard choices lie ahead to deliver effective policing within the revenue budget available and our capital funding remains significantly lower than that needed to progress improvement to our technology, buildings and vehicles.”
>Police officials previously warned that the freeze to the capital budget would leave police buildings “in decay”.
>The Scottish Police Federation warned that “leaking buildings, riddled with mould, fungus and damp” would add to victims’ and witnesses’ trauma.
>The Scottish government said: “While allocation of resources within Police Scotland is a matter for the chief constable, we remain fully committed to using the resources available to us to support the vital work of Police Scotland in delivering effective and responsive policing across Scotland.
>“That’s why we will invest £1.45 billion in 2023-24 in our national force, an increase of 6.3 per cent, with £45.5 million for investment in assets such as buildings, vehicles and technology such as body-worn cameras.”
The fact that Scot Rail have the budget for cameras but not the police is quite a shock, although I’m sure the number of employed has a big factor in that.
Everyone loses in this situation. Police need the cameras to support their claims and the public need those cameras to ensure accountability. Also cybercrime, which is surely something we need to have a better grip on.
Another 10 years or so and cgi, AI and deep fake technology will render any video footage admissible in court anyway. No one really seems to know how we’re going to handle that.
More like they don’t want to be held accountable for everything they do