How video helps us in crime fight

It was the early 1990s and I was being issued with my police uniform for the first time.

With arms full of blue shirts, jackets, trousers, I staggered along the counter as extra kit was thrust across toward me – handcuffs, truncheon, whistle and chain and, finally, helmet.

Not sure quite what to do with everything, I staggered back up the dimly lit staircase, desperately trying to peer over the mountain on freshly issued uniform, only to charge headlong into the Chief Inspector coming the other way at a rate of knots.

As he picked himself up from the pile of clothes that had left my arms and were now adorning much of his upper body, the grimace on his face suggested that newly appointed Probationary Police Constable 3546 Hall was someone he would take the time to remember.

A few weeks ago I found myself back in a much more modern looking uniform stores being issued with uniform ready to go on patrol.

I had decided to go ‘back to the floor’ and spend a shift with my uniformed colleagues as a reminder of the pressures that they face on a daily basis.

This time managing to avoid covering any senior ranks with shirts or trousers, I collected my new kit and headed out on patrol with a young PC.

It quickly became apparent that while the type of calls received were the same technology had moved on so much since my uniform days.

I was issued with a small body worn video camera mounted on my jacket and was under strict instructions to make sure it was used properly.

The value of the camera quickly became clear. As I knocked on the door of the house of a victim of domestic violence the camera caught her reaction.

She was shaken and upset and it was clear to me just how beneficial this would be in any court case – the instant reactions, the words, the emotions that just can’t be captured in a statement written on paper were captured for the court to see first-hand.

I asked if I could leave the camera on and she agreed. As we began to talk about what had happened the camera carried on recording the emotions as she relayed her account.

As a detective I would so often see the other end of case, where the victim had been spoken to and a written statement taken, sometimes a video interview later, but never the instant reaction when the emotions are so high.

The suspect was arrested shortly afterwards and charged.

Technology has changed policing for the better and it is important that we continue to find ways to support victims of crime in giving their evidence and to ensure we are working as efficiently as possible.

By embracing body worn video I am confident Cambridgeshire Constabulary are doing just that.