Police Scotland's Use of Body Worn Video

We sought views that would help us shape the use of Body Worn Video (BWV) by armed policing officers when interacting with the public. We felt it was important to engage and involve individuals, communities, and our partners to gain their views and measure their confidence in how we use technology and continue to police by consent.

We received almost 9,000 responses to our survey. This illustrated the large public interest in this topic and the public’s motivation to continue to be involved in the development of Police Scotland’s policies across both geographic and demographic communities, including a notable proportion of respondents: with a disability or long-term health condition (18%); currently employed by Police Scotland (15%); and under the age of 29 (17%).

We found that:

• A large majority of respondents (73%) reported that the use of BWV would help them feel safer.
• 58% respondents said they would feel “much safer” with a smaller number saying they would feel “slightly safer” (15%). A quarter reported it would make them feel “neither more or less safe”;
• Nine in ten respondents reported that BWV should be used “always” (74%) or “often” (16%);
• 78% of respondents reported that knowing interactions with the public are recorded would increase their trust and confidence in Police Scotland.

Your views have informed the decision making process as we move forward to the next stage in the delivery of BWV to our armed police officers across Scotland. Ahead of COP26 in Glasgow, armed police officers were equipped with BWV, which was a success.

We understand that we need to understand more about this topic before BWV is rolled out more widely. Further public engagement is being undertaken before we introduce BWV in other areas of policing, including for our response officers across local policing divisions. This engagement will involves our stakeholders, a public survey and focus groups with our diverse communities - all of which are already underway.