An Axon police camera being worn by an officer in Munich, Germany in 2023. Photo: Peter Kneffel
Increased violence is prompting a drive for the introduction of police body cameras to be used on the front line, the incoming NZ Police Association president says.
The Police union and new president-elect Steve Watt say a drive to get officers wired for sound and vision on the job will be a top priority, and they will be asking government to fund the technology.
Other professions in New Zealand already use body cameras, including parking wardens, prison officers and court bailiffs in some circumstances.
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers has previously said he sees body cameras as a priority.
And the outgoing Police Association president Chris Cahill has used his last speech at the union's annual conference to give the idea another nudge.
Now, the association's president-elect Steve Watt will be stepping into the job, and plans to keep the issue in frame.
Watt told Checkpoint that police were having to deal with a more violent and confrontational society.
"There's no doubt that we're seeing an escalation in violence against our officers, and against the public in general. So any tool like body worn cameras that we can put on that will A, keep our officers safe, and B, keep the public safe, has got to be a good thing, so we're really pushing for it.
Steve Watt Photo: Supplied / Police Association
"One of our key focuses is making sure that our officers have all the equipment that they need necessary to keep them safe."
Evidence from places overseas where body cameras were worn showed both the public and police officers were safer with lenses on them, and that both reported feeling safer, Watt said.
"They're an exceptional tool with a lot of benefits ... the transparent nature of body-worn cameras and the trust and confidence that installs in the public - that's a really powerful weapon to build that trust and confidence up in the public due to their transparent nature.
"Secondly, for our members it sees a reduction in the number of complaints that are made against our members, and where complaints are made, they're resolved far more quickly due to the footage that is captured on those cameras, so it's really important for our members to be equipped with this vital piece of equipment really."
Introducing body cameras would involve carefully navigating a number of laws, policies and operational matters, including considering privacy protections, which would make it "a long road" before they could be introduced. And a lot of training would be involved, Watt said.
What and when the cameras are set up to record and what footage they save, varies between different camera models and how they are set up, he said. For example some can be triggered by a taser being drawn, and can then backtrack to save all the footage just prior. While some have to be manually activated to record by the officer wearing them.
New technology was also being developed so cameras can be programmed to activate in particular circumstances.
US-based manufacturer Axon made a presentation about their cameras to the Police Association's annual conference, in Wellington on Thursday. Police already use tasers from Axon.
"They [Axon] would be one of many, I'm sure, that would be considered," Watt said. "And that's a police decision to make, and a commercial decision to make."
However, Watt said new funding was necessary to introduce the cameras, and they must not come at the cost of other essential budget items for police.
"In regards to money spent, I think anything that's going to increase the safety of the public, increase the safety of officers, provide transparency of footage, evidence gathering - all those things - would be money well spent.
"There's no doubt that we need to consider government investment in this if we are going to press forward with it. I'm sure that the police will approach the government in due course, in regards to that.
"The last thing we want to do is see money spent on the cameras and have that come from the baseline and have other resources drained as a result of trying to deal with the cameras, so it is going to have to come from government, and we'll work with police in order to make sure that we can get that case forward."
Police officers say they look forward to when body cameras merge with facial recognition technology
Watt told RNZ the two technologies go together.
"At the end of the day they do go hand and hand, and when it comes to future technology we do need to think about that now," he said.
"Part of our job is to try and push this and make it happen a lot quicker, because the reality is, it's going to make police officers safer, it's going to make the public safer."
But an Axon rep at a panel discussion at the Police Association conference, R J Miller, refused to be drawn on what body cameras for 10,000 officers would cost, or the data storage costs on top of that.
Outgoing union president Chris Cahill had asked if it would be in the tens or hundreds of millions.
Miller said that was not his field, and when asked about facial recognition, said Axon's long-standing stance was a watching brief as to how accurate and unbiased it was.
Cahill agreed with Watt that the cameras were a natural fit for facial recognition tech, and with privacy safeguards, a tech merger would have benefits.
"Say, for instance, you were patrolling in a street and a known armed offender was in a crowd, you could identify that person straight away," Cahill said.
"We're lucky in New Zealand we don't have a lot of this."
Getting the thresholds right was key, such as only hitting the scanning button on a facial rec-powered bodycam, if one were available in future, if an officer suspected a person was a significant threat in a public place, Cahill said.
As for existing bodycams, both Watt and Cahill believed their deployment would be enabled by the legislation the government last week said it would bring in, to give officers more certain powers to take a person's picture.
"That's what we will be exploring through the select committee process," said Cahill.
Watt said they needed to see the legislation and take time to consider how it might apply to officers' use of a range of technologies.
"I'm sort of thinking months as opposed to years," Watt said.
Miller told the conference Axon cameras would "leverage AI on the edge", doing such things as offering translation from other languages to officers.
He cited studies in Australia on how body cameras saved 60 percent of police time on witness statements, and cut complaints against officers by a third.
Police have used Axon's tasers for years. These used to contain a camera, but the new model does not, so taser use is no longer recorded.
They also store some evidence in Axon's evidence.com cloud data storage system in Australia.
Some police forces overseas use a chain of Axon technology - tasers-bodycams-storage - but an Axon rep said there was flexibility around that.
Prison guards in New Zealand already use bodycams - they have 2500 Axons - as do fisheries officers and some bailiffs.
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers is set on getting bodycams in within his five-year term, but: "Significant operational, legal and privacy implications" had to be worked through, he has said.
Te Pāti Māori has said it was "insisting" on bodycams "to ensure the safety of all those who come into contact with law enforcement".
Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster told the conference on Thursday that adopting them would be a "significant initiative".
"Bodyworn camera technology has serious implications for individuals' right to privacy," Webster said.
But they could be deployed for lawful purposes as long as police were careful about things like access, and security for the data, and how they stored it.
"This is not about untethered intelligence gathering," Webster said.
Police did limited research into bodycams about six years ago. Moves then bogged down, in part over what they have previously said were "prohibitive" costs.
Cahill conceded the demands on the police budget were queuing up, as they also lacked a digital evidence information management system.
"If you want to get the best use of technology ... I think we should look at trying to get the best.
"And that would include an evidence system as well. And the time that could free up from taking statements, transcribing interviews, all those things, would free up so much police time to have them back on the street."
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