During Thursday’s press conference, Deputy Minister of the Interior and Administration Jarosław Zieliński summarised the pilot programme for body-worn cameras for police officers, which ran from December 2017 to April this year. “The primary value of this technical solution is transparency, but also the protection of citizens and the legal protection of officers,” he said.

The pilot programme was conducted in three Police garrisons: the capital, Lower Silesian and Podlaskie. In total, 180 cameras were purchased for the programme, along with the necessary equipment—60 for each of the three garrisons—for traffic police officers and intervention patrols.

The Deputy Minister noted that recording police activities had reduced the level of doubt and discussion surrounding them, while the activities themselves had become more transparent. Significantly fewer complaints about police interventions were also recorded, and there were none at all in the Lower Silesian garrison. “The cameras are proving effective, which is why we want to make them more widespread. This year, using funds from the Uniformed Services Modernization Programme, we want to purchase 2,110 such devices. This will be the first tranche; in subsequent years, if they continue to prove effective, more will be purchased,” assured the deputy head of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration.

Current law permits the use of body-worn cameras only in public places. A change in the law is necessary to make it possible to record interventions in non-public places.

“As part of implementing the European police directive, known as DODO, we want to introduce provisions allowing police officers’ activities to be recorded in non-public places, for example during domestic interventions,” Deputy Minister Zieliński announced.

Once the law is changed, it will be possible to record police interventions in non-public places in only three cases: during domestic interventions, when transporting detained persons in police cars, and during counterterrorism operations.

The Deputy Minister thanked the heads of the provincial headquarters for supervising and carrying out the pilot programme. He recalled that the Police must be close to people and serve people, but that wherever necessary, they must also be subject to public scrutiny.

The cameras will go to all garrisons across the country. What do you think? Is it a good idea? We invite you to join the discussion.