Government wants to make body cameras mandatory for police officers, says Capelli

The executive secretary and acting Minister of Justice, Ricardo Capelli, announced that the federal government will publish a measure in the coming days to make body cameras mandatory for police officers nationwide.

“In the coming weeks we will publish national guidelines for the use of body cameras. We have already sent a bill proposal to the Civil House to make the use of cameras mandatory. The body camera protects the police officer and police activity. We are not doing that from top to bottom”, declared Capelli in an interview with UOL Portalwhich aired on Thursday night (28).

According to Capelli, the measure was debated with several police commanders across Brazil, and the text was finalized with the participation of the São Paulo Police, which was the first to have this experience of using body cameras.

“It will happen and the police will start using cameras and more important than the cameras is all the technology behind the cameras that reads data. We are working to be a national system and for this information to be communicated and cross-referenced” , highlighted Capelli.

Among the department’s other priorities, the secretary also highlighted the offer of 100,000 training grants for the police, in order to assist states in training police officers. He also mentioned the creation of a National Police Inspectorate.

“We want to help the states, because combating crime is an important issue that needs to be faced. We face this with clearer standards and strangling organized crime – the biggest threat to public security. It is structured work with several lines and combating violence police officer is one of them,” said Capelli.

The use of police cameras is a subject that divides opinions between security professionals and experts, in addition to being the subject of studies and controversy. São Paulo police officers told Gazeta do Povo that the cameras hinder the work of public security forces, especially those assigned to combat organized crime.

A study released last year by researchers at Stanford University on the use of cameras attached to the uniforms of police officers in Rio de Janeiro concluded that the use of the equipment produced a “de-policing” effect, that is, it discouraged security agents from engage in activities such as approaches and responding to calls.