Body-worn cameras for police may not be rolled out to officers until March 2025, the general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation has said.

Police Scotland announced in June that a £13.3 million contract for 10,500 of the devices had been agreed, but David Kennedy said it will be months yet before officers are kitted out with them.

Speaking at a fringe event at the SNP conference in Edinburgh that was attended by Justice Secretary Angela Constance, he said: “I know Angela has fought to get the body-worn video.

“We have just been told last week we’re not even going to see that now, probably until March of next year.

“I can’t understand why we’re in that position as a police service.”

The introduction of body-worn cameras was a key recommendation of former lord advocate Dame Elish Angiolini’s review of policing complaints, which was published in 2020.

 

Chief Constable Jo Farrell also made the rollout of the cameras a key priority of her leadership after taking over last year.

All uniformed officers, including special constables, will be expected to wear a camera while on duty and they will be instructed to turn it on while using police powers such as conducting a stop-and-search, making an arrest or executing a search warrant.

Staff in custody suites will also be expected to use body-worn video.

Speaking at the fringe event, Ms Constance said the devices are “crucial”.

She added that while there is “more work to do working out the contract”, Ms Farrell is committed to “transparency” on the matter “particularly in relation to timescales”.

The Justice Secretary stressed the importance of introducing the devices, adding that while they are “important” for officer safety “they also lead to things like earlier pleas, reducing the need for police officers to be spending excessive time in courts giving evidence”.

This, she said, means there will be “huge benefits for police, prosecutors and courts” in introducing them.

Deputy Chief Constable Jane Connors said the devices were expected to be “deployed and active in spring 2025” for the first tranche of the 10,000 officers and staff, before being rolled out more widely over the next 12 months.

The police officer stated: “In June we appointed the supplier for body-worn video, a major step forward and progress continues to be driven at pace.”

She continued: “We expect the system to be deployed and active in spring 2025 for the first tranche of over 10,000 officers and staff, and they will be equipped over the next 12 months following a co-ordinated, sequenced rollout with its links to DESC (digitally enabled sharing capability).”

While she said it was a “very complex programme of work”, the Deputy Chief Constable said it was “progressing at pace” and the force had “put lot of focus on it”.

She stated: “It will revolutionise the way we support officers and staff, the way we support victims and witnesses, and feed into that wider criminal justice reform that is so essential for creating capacity for our officers and staff, and justice for victims.”