Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser has called for more police officers to be given body-worn video cameras in a bid to tackle serious crime.
The politician recently asked the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Keith Brown MSP, why Police Scotland does not have sufficient body-worn cameras in comparison to their colleagues south of the border, during a Ministerial statement, entitled ‘Policing in Scotland – Ten Years on from Reform’ at Holyrood.
Commenting, Mr Fraser, who represents the Mid Scotland and Fife region, said: “It is a poor indictment of the SNP Government that there is a lack of body-worn cameras for our police officers. A Freedom of Information request by the Scottish Conservatives found that as of October 2022, Police Scotland had only 941 body-worn video cameras, which is scandalous.
“The Deputy Chief Constable of Police Scotland described the body-worn kit they do have as being ‘basic.’ Compare that to police in England who are already on to second generation body-worn video cameras.
“Even supermarket workers in Scotland have body-worn cameras these days, so I asked the Cabinet Secretary for Justice why more police officers don’t have them. Despite telling the Scottish Parliament that he would like to see more police officers being able to use the cameras, and stating that the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) are looking at the benefits of these cameras, the Cabinet Secretary as usual passed the buck by claiming this would be an issue for the SPA and Chief Constable of Police Scotland to look at.
“The truth is that Police Scotland have seen real-terms cuts to their resource budget by the SNP Government, along with cuts to their capital budget. And last year, we saw around 1,000 frontline officers quit the force over a 10-month period, with police leaders blaming this exodus on low morale caused by heavy workloads and lack of job satisfaction.
“In comparison, the Scottish Conservatives would restore our police with our Local Policing Act, which would give officers the equipment they need to fight crime and keep Scotland safe.”
Mr Fraser continued: “Having these cameras would definitely help in the battle to reduce violent crime, and, in the process, reduce the court backlog as we would likely see more guilty pleas if the use of body-worn video cameras were increased.”
