Posted on 07/12/2007 2:35:48 PM PDT by abc123alphabetagamma
Following successful trials, British policemen are to be issued with head cameras while they are on the beat. The £3 million ($6.1 million) scheme, which led to an increase in the number of convictions of offenders when it was tried out in the south-western town of Plymouth, is to be rolled out throughout the country.
Three hundred police officers were given access to 50 cameras and body-worn video equipment, which they could strap on during day or night patrols. The visual evidence of crimes meant that it was well-nigh impossible for the perpetrators to get away with it, as was frequently the case. There was less paperwork for the police, less time spent in court, earlier guilty pleas and an increase in convictions.
At the end of the year-long pilot, arrests for violent crime were up by a massive 85 per cent, while the police's detection of violent crime was up by 40 per cent. Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, the force which undertook the trial, also claimed to have reduced violent crime by 8 per cent.
(Excerpt) Read more at gizmodo.com ...
Good. All uniformed police should be equipped with this. Not only will it cut down on the cries of “police brutality” or “police abuse”, it should also help weed out many bad cops.
And hey, the police are always telling us that if we have nothing to hide, we shouldn’t mind surveillance...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.