Fewer police armed with body-worn cameras ahead of national rollout, data shows

The number of police body-worn cameras has dropped in the past two years, figures show ahead of a delayed national rollout.

Police Scotland signed a deal with technology firm Motorola Solutions UK earlier this year to provide 10,500 cameras and the required software to operate them, but the beginning of the full rollout has been pushed back until next year, according to the Justice Secretary.

Armed officers and those in the north east of Scotland are already using some cameras, but the number of operative cameras has fallen in the past two years.

According to a freedom of information request by the Scottish Conservatives, 600 cameras are being used by armed officers, while 249 are in the north east division.

A request from the party in 2022, however, showed 941 were in operation.

The party’s justice spokesman, Liam Kerr, described the figures as “pitiful”.

He said: “Officers elsewhere in the UK have access to this protective kit, and it is just common sense that all of them should. Yet fewer than 900 in Scotland now do, which is a damning indictment of the SNP’s neglect of our police.

“Their planned rollout of these cameras has been shamefully slow and beset with constant delays.

“That simply is not good enough when we know these cameras give greater protection to officers and could help ease the backlogs in our court system.

“Officers are exasperated on many fronts, and this is one of them. For years, they’ve been demanding cameras, and things have only gone backwards.

“SNP ministers who are presiding over the lowest officer numbers since they came to power in 2007 are totally disconnected from the everyday reality facing them.”

The figures should act as a “wake-up call” to the Scottish Government, Mr Kerr added.

In September, Police Scotland Chief Constable Jo Farrell said she could not give a firm timeline for the beginning of the national rollout, which is expected to take around three years.

Justice Secretary Angela Constance said a week later the “first tranche” of cameras would be in the hands of officers “by spring next year”.

The Scottish Government, Police Scotland, and the Scottish Police Federation have been contacted for comments.