Home Secretary backs BWV campaign

21 September 2020

The chair of West Midlands Police Federation says the support of the Home Secretary is a welcome step that strengthens the Federation’s campaign for forces to share body-worn video (BWV) footage with the public.

Jon Nott’s comments come as part of a campaign aiming to protect officers from being at the centre of a social media storm when selected clips of incidents involving the police are posted on the internet exposing them to personal abuse.

Jon said: “The support of the Home Secretary serves to strengthen our campaign and sends out a positive message to our members. We’ve seen how clips that are taken out of context can get a reaction from some members of the public.

“They can quickly go viral and suddenly officers can find themselves at the centre of a social media storm, which can be a difficult and unpleasant place to be.

“It’s only right that, where appropriate, we can counter any false narrative to support and protect our members and to preserve the trust the public has in policing.”

Jon was speaking 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 direct 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.”

John Apter added: “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.