Environment Agency officers in the North East are wearing body worn cameras as part of a six-month trial.
The trial – which is noted as the first of its kind within the organisation – is aimed at assessing if cameras can help reduce incidents of anti-social behaviour, assaults and threats against staff, particularly those working with regulated and illegal waste sites.
The Environment Agency has launched a six-month trial of body worn cameras
If successful, the Agency said body worn cameras could be rolled out to Environment Agency teams across the country.
Pilot
The Agency explained: “They could be used in a variety of ways, including at visits to poor performing sites, illegal waste sites, during fisheries and navigation patrols and even during incident response.”
“Since the trial started in April, waste enforcement and fisheries officers have been wearing the devices during their routine activities and activate them if they encounter a hostile situation or site.”
The Agency said the pilot scheme has been introduced after an employee, Paul Whitehall, an ex-police officer, was threatened with violence when he and a fellow colleague attended an illegal waste site on a routine visit.
‘Effective’
Mr Whitehall said: “I worked with body cameras in the police and saw how effective they can be so suggested we run a trial.”
According to the Agency, officers have reported that wearing the cameras has “prevented threatening situations from escalating.”
The Agency said waste enforcement officers regularly encounter aggressive behaviour across the country. The Agency reports, since 2001, it has successfully prosecuted 59 cases of obstruction, hostility or threatening behaviour towards staff, 22 of which were in the North East.
“The safety of our staff is paramount. They are well trained in dealing with hostile situations and we take any threat against them very seriously. But our preference is to prevent hostility in the first place.”
Rachael Caldwell
Environment Agency
Rachael Caldwell from the Environment Agency’s waste and enforcement department, said: “The safety of our staff is paramount. They are well trained in dealing with hostile situations and we take any threat against them very seriously. But our preference is to prevent hostility in the first place.”
Guidelines
And, according to the Agency, studies show that people are less likely to contest the evidence when they know their offence is captured on camera, and this could help “speed up justice and reduce legal costs.”
Officers taking part in the pilot must follow guidelines on use of these cameras. The Agency explained that the cameras will not be permanently switched on and people will be informed if they are being filmed. The footage is automatically deleted after a month unless it is required for evidential purposes.
Ms Caldwell added: “Officers will only switch the cameras on if and when they enter a hostile situation. That could be a site where they have experienced aggressive behaviour in the past, or an unknown quantity where hostility may be anticipated, such as on a remote river bank.”
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