Philippine National Police chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar (Photo courtesy of PNP)
MANILA - Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar on Saturday said the new body-worn cameras (BWCs) are capable of night-vision with an object detection range of up to 10 meters in the dark.
He added that the BWCs also have an auto-night mode that distinguishes an object from the ground.
He said this capability was anticipated during the review of what type of body cameras would be procured by the PNP, adding that BWCs are the best in the market and can be used even in the nighttime or bad weather.
He said the BWCs are water-proof and could record both audio and video for at least eight hours of continuous operation.
He said once the video recording is turned on, the police-in-charge will immediately inform the desk officer on duty in the police station or police unit. All the data that would be recorded are directly sent to the PNP Command Center for management and monitoring.
"The BWCs will only be turned off once the operation is concluded. During the arrest, recording will stop upon turn-over of the suspect to the detention facility,” Eleazar added.
The PNP bought a total of 2,696 BWCs through a Congressional allocation.
These were distributed to 170 police stations composed of 20 police offices in large cities of the country, 108 city police stations, five police districts of the National Capital Region Police Office, 15 city and municipal stations in Metro Manila, which include 23 numbered police stations.
Eleazar earlier said the PNP needs at least 30,000 more BWCs to cover all the police stations and units in various parts of the country.
He said there is a plan to buy more in the coming years, which would be distributed not only to the remaining city and municipal police stations but also to other PNP units. (PNA)
