BODY WORN CAMERAS for frontline gardaí will be rolled out in Dublin from today as part of a trial for the technology.
The cameras will be worn by a total of 700 gardaí during the proof of concept (PoC) project.
Operational gardaí in Pearse Street station, Kevin Street station and Store Street station will be wearing the cameras from today, while they will be introduced in Waterford station and Henry Street station in Limerick in the coming months.
There will be 100 cameras available for use in Store Street, while Kevin Street and Pearse Street will have 50 each.
Taoiseach Simon Harris said today that the cameras are “an important tool and piece of technology that I think can help keep them safe, and also I think continuing to help keep our streets safe and support the gardaí in their evidence gathering work too”.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee also said she wants to see body cameras on gardaí all across the country and that this pilot phase was “a significant day” for the force.
The Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Act 2023 (Code of Practice) Order 2024 was recently signed by Justice Minister Helen McEntee, and An Garda Síochána has been working to introduce body worn cameras for members in accordance with this.
Following a procurement process for vendors, Axon, Reveal and Motorola were selected to create cameras for Dublin, Limerick and Waterford, respectively.
Over 150 gardaí in Dublin have completed training for the cameras and the Digital Evidence Management System, with a further 200 set to complete their training by the middle of June.
The force expects that the cameras will improve safety for members, reduce complaints of police misconduct, save time in court preparation and appearances and lower costs in relation to those.
They also anticipate that they will result in less challenges around arrests and provide better policing outcomes, along with increased professionalism and accountability within the force.
The body worn cameras will be attached to the chest of gardaí on patrol as part of a dock that has been stitched into the uniform.
The cameras can record audio and video. However, the cameras will not be recording all the time while worn.
The cameras will be activated by the individual officer during their tour of duty during a specific incident when they believe there is a need to gather evidence.
The garda will inform a member of the public when they are turning the camera on. A flashing red light will be visible on the front of the device while it is recording.
The cameras have 160 degrees of field vision and a 64Gb hard drive to record for 16 hours continuously. The camera battery itself has sufficient batter and should last over a 12 hour shift.
The footage gathered by the cameras is not stored on the device itself, and will only be available to view after the officer returns to the station and ‘docks’ the device. The footage will then be uploaded onto the Digital Evidence Management System (DEMS).
A garda will use their badge with their ID on it to scan the
DEMS is a software that will enable Gardaí to collect, store, manage and analyse digital evidence from the camera footage.
Once inputted into the DEMS, the body worn camera footage will remain in the system for 31 days. If the footage is not tagged as evidence for a case, it will be automatically removed after that period.
Only the garda who recorded the footage can view that footage, and the footage can’t be manually deleted.
Gardaí will also have a corresponding app on their mobility device where they can tag why they took the footage, but the footage can only be viewed on the app while the device is being worn. After the officer removes the camera, the footage will not be available to view or stored on the app.
“The overriding principle for all the video and audio taken is that the product resulting from it will always be treated as if it were to be put before a court, irrespective of the purpose for which it was taken,” Chief Superintendent Derek Smart said.
Any person who is captured on a body worn camera can request access to footage that they appear in under a subject access request. They will only receive footage and audio that relates to them.
Gardaí said the point of the PoC is that they recognise that there will be learnings and refinements needed to arrive at the optimal solution, and that there will continue to be extensive engagement with Garda associations and users themselves.
“A key aspect is how we learn and how we support Garda decision-making as they adopt these policing tools,” Chief Information Officer Andrew O’Sullivan said.
“The real key thing for us is that digitalisation is not about machines taking over policing or it’s not about autonomous machine decision making, it’s actually getting the right blend between data technology and human policing skills.”
The gardaí liaised with police forces across Europe and large cities in the United States as they research the best ways to introduce the system.
In September, the cost of the system would be in the region of €10m – similar to the amount that mobile devices cost for the entire force.
Contains reporting by Mairead Maguire and David MacRedmond.
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