MANILA – Police officers equipped with body cameras will be one of the legacies of outgoing Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Gen. Debold Sinas.
PNP Directorate for Logistics Director Maj. Gen. Angelito Casimiro confirmed on Monday that Sinas has signed the final acceptance document for the equipment.
The PNP chief is scheduled to step down on May 8 when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 56.
Casimiro said they are finishing the final protocols in the use of video in the presentation of evidence to the court.
“That is the challenge for now especially as there are privacy rules. We will be finalizing the memorandum circular on protocols of presentation," he said in an interview.
Casimiro said the body cameras have been distributed to major cities.
"We will be appealing for some funds so all police stations will be equipped," he added.
The PNP acquired 2,696 body-worn cameras and their associated systems from San Juan City-based EVI Distribution Inc.
Each major police station will be given 16 body cameras, eight of which will be used by patrolling operatives while the remaining eight will be reserved for other operations.
The cameras will be equipped with SIM (subscriber identity module) cards that will be used to feed videos to the PNP Command Center.
The body cameras are waterproof and can record video for up to eight hours.
The officers wearing them cannot interfere with its configuration and they cannot turn those off while on duty. (PNA)
