President of the Police Social and Welfare Association, Insp Michael Seales, is again calling for body cameras for police officers.
His call comes after yet another case in which his colleagues are under fire, especially on social media, after being accused of killing unarmed labourer Adelle Gilbert in San Fernando on Thursday.
Speaking at a book handing-over ceremony from Amalgamated Security Services to the Police Service yesterday, Seales said the entire incident was not recorded but body cameras could have assisted in presenting a clearer picture to the public.
“Let me just say the feedback should be body cameras are a priority now. I have gotten expressions from the membership of what has been shown is just one version of the event.
“I’ve had the benefit of looking at it in its detail and I understand now that we need body cameras because it would capture footage from the inception of police activities and not at the back end of police activities, which is what we saw.”
Seales said it was time for the Government to do what needed to be done to ensure officers were outfitted with the gadgets. He added cameras would also assist in training new officers in ways to diffuse hostile situations and how to act under certain stresses of the job.
“There was some reluctance initially (to body cameras) but now we are seeing that the membership is running towards it. As I said, part of the expression of the social media network, the membership has said ‘You know what, it is about time for the body worn cameras because it would have captured everything instead of a he said, she said thing.’
“Because not everything was caught in relation to the footage online right now in relation to the private citizen,” he added.
He said the footage should not be treated like a holy grail and be hidden but made available to the citizens. He said vice-president, Insp Anand Ramesar, underwent training on body cameras and suggested that like in the US, the footage be made available online.
He said the video shared on Facebook and WhatsApp after Gilbert was shot was posted hours after it was recorded, which meant that the footage may have been altered. With the body cameras, Seales said, there would not be any room for editing.
One major issues raised by viewers of the video was a snippet of an officer picking up what appeared to be a spent shell as they prepared to remove Gilbert.
Asked about that, Seales said the officer might have been removing a 25-cent piece or even jewellery from off the ground. He added that the investigation would reveal all that took place and if anything illegal was done or best practices were not followed, then the officer would have to answer for it.
He reiterated that it was not illegal for police officers to be videotaped while doing their duty but called on the public not to get in the way of the officers while they were recording as that may constitute obstruction of an officer.