Police take action against 74 officers for accessing body-worn camera footage – The Irish News

Police in Northern Ireland action was taken against 74 officers for accessing body-worn footage.

This happened after an investigation Police Ombudsman which found they had accessed the video without a legitimate police purpose for doing so.

Filmed material described as the arrest of a member of the public for possession illegal drugsduring which the arresting officer made a mistake while issuing a criminal warning, prompting a colleague to laugh in the background.

Police Ombudsman investigators found that between December 2019 and November 2022, 82 people viewed the video of the incident 248 times. police and one civilian officer in 20 police stations across Northern Ireland.

Most called him once or twice, but many did it more often, including one officer who called him 21 times.

Further investigation revealed that only five police and one civilian employee had good reason to access the video.

This was the subject of an ombudsman’s investigation 74 officers had no legal basis to do so and the two officers have since resigned and could no longer be prosecuted misconduct.

The other officer remains the subject of a separate investigation by the police ombudsman, which is looking into possible wrongdoing in connection with access to the footage.

It was described that the problem arose during an investigation by the Police Ombudsman into a separate case in which the use of PSNI Body Video System was examined.

Hugh Hume, chief executive of the Office of the Police Ombudsman, said the footage was viewed for entertainment, but those who did so “showed little regard for the privacy of the arrestee or the emotional well-being of their colleague depicted in the video”. .

“The responses received from officers when asked to state their reasons for accessing the video show a clear lack of awareness that it could be a criminal or misdemeanor offence,” he said.

“A number of officers have indicated in their responses that as a result of the investigation by the Office of the Police Ombudsman, they have updated their knowledge of the PSNI’s body video guidance, which I welcome.”

Mr Hume described the PSNI’s decision management action against 74 officers who accessed the video without proper cause as a “reasonable and proportionate result.”

He also welcomed the PSNI’s acceptance of the Police Ombudsman’s three recommendations to prevent the misuse of body-worn video.

However, he expressed concern that the PSNI had not adopted a fourth recommendation to dip samples to “assess the extent of unauthorized access to the body-worn video system”.

He added: “Given the deficiencies in access control to video on the bodytherefore, we believe that there remains a significant residual risk that private and personal data may be accessed without a legitimate police purpose.

“On this occasion, the Police Ombudsman has taken the exceptional decision to share these findings with the Information Commissioner’s Office so that they can consider whether our findings can inform their work.”

Deputy Chief Constable Chris Todd said: “The Police Service of Northern Ireland expects all staff to behave professionally, ethically and with the utmost integrity at all times and if conduct is deemed to fall short of these high standards it is right that officers should be subject to an impartial investigation the office of the police ombudsman.

“The Police Service of Northern Ireland has accepted three recommendations from the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland regarding the investigation into this matter.

“The Police Service is taking a number of steps to ensure that officers are aware of their responsibilities in relation to the legal requirements for acceptable use and the data protection implications of body image surveillance. Anyone requesting access to body-worn video footage must provide a “reason for access” that outlines the legal basis for viewing the footage.

---

---

“We have also recently introduced additional safeguards, including regular but proportionate sampling by line managers, as well as independent monitoring through our newly established reporting panel. We are satisfied that these measures have achieved the same end result as that required by the Ombudsman’s fourth recommendation.

“Following the findings of PONI’s investigation, the police service has taken appropriate management action and will continue to continually review procedures and policies regarding access to body-worn video.”