Home Secretary supports Federation over BWV

21 September 2020

The support of the Home Secretary is a welcome boost to the Federation’s campaign to share body-worn video footage with the public, says Hertfordshire branch chair Geoff Bardell.

The campaign aims to protect officers when selected clips of incidents involving the police are posted on the internet.

It follows an increase in the posting of such clips on social media, with the Federation voicing concern about members being subjected to personal abuse because of one-sided videos.

Geoff said: “We welcome the backing of the Home Secretary for this campaign. It can only strengthen our call for forces to share body-worn footage, when appropriate, to protect our members.

“We’ve seen a rise in incidents where video clips are uploaded to the internet and give a distorted version of the actual events. They’re posted to cause a reaction and therefore often cause a social media storm.

“It can be a horrible experience to be in the middle of that storm, and we must be able to support our members if it happens.

“But it can also dent the public’s confidence in policing and, if we are able to do so, we must be able to set the record straight.”

Geoff’s comments came after national Federation chair John Apter recently raised this topic with Home Secretary Priti Patel during an exclusive interview for POLICE, the Federation’s magazine.

Ms Patel branded the publicising of unbalanced footage in an attempt to vilify officers as ‘unacceptable’.

As a result, the Home Secretary has now written to Martin Hewitt, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), encouraging Forces to be proactive in considering when BWV footage can be released to demonstrate the good work officers do and to show that selective footage can be misleading.

She said: “It is in this context that I am expressing my support for the Police Federation’s recent campaign to protect officers from unfair criticism via social media.”

The national Federation chair explained: “I wrote to the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing saying that, when appropriate and where it is possible, we should release officers’ body-worn video footage. I also raised this directly with the Home Secretary.

“The Home Secretary’s support and the action being taken by the NPCC and College of Policing is very welcome news. This is a step in the right direction, not only to protect my colleagues from unfair social media attacks, but also to protect public confidence in the police.”

The NPCC and the college have since agreed to begin reviewing BWV guidance with the Federation feeding into the process.