Body Worn Video Policy

Introduction 

Lichfield District Council’s (LDC) Regulation & Enforcement Service (‘the Service’) is responsible for the delivery of a range of law enforcement functions across the district including food safety, health & safety, licensing, pollution control, environmental crime, animal welfare, public health, housing standards, and planning enforcement.

This policy sets out LDCs policy and procedure for the use of body worn video (BWV) cameras by officers within the Service. It will enable officers to comply with the relevant legislation and outline the associated benefits to officers and the public. It also documents best practice procedures with regard to the integrity of data as well as its security and use. BWV devices will be used to gather evidence in respect of the investigation of any offence or suspected offence.

BWV will also serve to protect officers by acting as a deterrent to acts of aggression, inappropriate behaviour, and malicious complaints.

Terminology 

BWV device: Body worn video device, currently the Axon Body 2.
Data: Video captured by the BWV device, including any edits or overlays of that video, and video or images that are uploaded to evidence.com by any other means.
Deploy: An officer operating outside of their workplace with a BWV device.
Power on: Switching on the BWV device so that it is on standby.
Activate: Moving the BWV device from being powered on to recording data.
Evidence.com: Cloud based digital evidence management system provided by Axon.
BWV administrator: A manager nominated to hold an administrator account for evidence.com, to deliver training on their use, and to ensure compliance with policy and legislation.
Uniform: Case management database used by the Service.