Police officers are accused of mishandling body-worn video in more than 150 incidents, including switching off cameras and sharing footage on WhatsApp, a BBC investigation has found.
Body-worn video is widely used by police in England and Wales but cases released under freedom of information detail a catalogue of misuse.
While the footage is intended to benefit the public and the police, officers are accused of switching off cameras during incidents and failing to disclose inconvenient evidence they record.
In some incidents where cameras were switched off officers faced no sanctions, with one force saying an officer may have been “confused”, the BBC reported.
Misuse of footage appears to be widespread. The BBC uncovered cases in seven forces where officers shared footage with colleagues or friends, either in person or using social media. In one instance, images of a naked person were shared between officers on email, according to the BBC.
In some instances video was lost, deleted or not marked as evidence.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council’s lead for body-worn video, Jim Colwell, an acting chief constable, said the NPCC would be updating its guidance for body-worn video next month and it would be “more strongly worded to recommend that forces need to take action towards officers who are not using BWV correctly”.
He said the technology was “an important policing tool which helps to provide greater transparency and scrutiny of police powers”.
Disclosure failures are also a recurring issue, with police accused of withholding body-worn evidence that can be crucial.
In one incident, two siblings named only as Louisa, 25, and Yufial, 23, were accused of assaulting and abusing police officers at a Black Lives Matter protest in May 2020 in London. Their recollection was that they were assaulted by police but it took a two-year legal battle to obtain the body-worn video evidence they needed for their acquittal.
Footage shows Louisa being pushed and then restrained with her head pressed into the concrete after protesting outside Downing Street. Another video shows her brother Yufial being struck by an officer who is then pulled back.
After the footage was finally released they were both acquitted. Louisa said she kept thinking: “I’m not going crazy, I know what happened, I saw the officer punch my brother.”
The camera footage from the officer who pushed Louisa was not disclosed, which the force told the BBC was an “error of disclosure”. The judge said in Yufial’s hearing that it seemed the prosecution had deliberately failed to disclose relevant information.
Ruth Ehrlich, the head of policy and campaigns at Liberty, said: “This misuse and abuse of sensitive footage by police is horrifying, but sadly for many people it’s not surprising. In recent months and years, we’ve seen time and time again that officers are abusing their power, harming people and hiding from accountability behind their badges.
“We’ve long had concerns that while body-worn video is painted as a way to hold police accountable, in fact it does the opposite – it violates people’s right to privacy and worsens discrimination.”
The Metropolitan police said in a statement about Yufial and Louisa’s cases: “We accept that there were errors with disclosure of evidence and other material in relation to both these investigations and we apologise that this was the case.
“This will be reviewed and any relevant learning taken forward. We have received public complaints in relation to these matters and these are being progressed. As such it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
