Lack of protocols delays use of body cams

The actual use of body-worn cameras in police operations has been delayed by the absence of protocols on their presentation as court evidence. Police Maj. Gen. Angelito Casimiro, logistics director of the Philippine National Police, however, gave assurance that the final acceptance of 2,600 units of body-worn cameras and its systems worth P289 million has been completed by outgoing Gen. Debold Sinas, the PNP chief. “So that will trigger the official use of the equipment on the ground,” Casimiro told reporters on Monday’s press conference in Camp Crame. But he said: “The PNP directorate for operations is in the process of finishing the final protocols in the use of the video [as] evidence in court.”

—Jeannette I. Andrade