Bodycams are officially making their debut on the Luxembourg police scene: as of 1 July, all on-duty police officers will wear cameras, though the storing of recorded material still has to be switched on manually. Once officers activate the mechanism, a small light and sound signal will indicate that the camera is actively recording, with the 30 seconds preceding activation also being saved.
“The camera continuously collects data in its intermediate memory. This information is automatically overwritten every 30 seconds unless the officer triggers the recording”, explain the authorities in a press release.
In practice, a police officer who activates their own bodycam will also automatically trigger those of their colleagues – to paint as complete a picture as possible. Police officers, for their part, will be obliged to inform the persons targeted by the recording before starting it.
Home Affairs Minister Léon Gloden anticipated criticism last month when he explained that the aim was not to “create a surveillance state” but to prevent attacks on police officers and to obtain “as objective a picture as possible” of recorded incidents. The cameras are also hoped to help “detect and prosecute offences”, as the police note on their website.
“The cameras and images cannot be manipulated”, Gloden insisted. The recordings will end up on a secure server in Germany and will be kept for 28 days if they are not used as part of an investigation.
The Ministry in June had further explained that the measure was a way of “guaranteeing the officers’ safety and that of citizens”. Gloden pointed out in this context that officers have been increasingly “confronted with situations where people were uncooperative”.
According to the CSV politician, the rollout of body cameras might make their work easier. “The feeling of being filmed may discourage attacks on police officers”, he argued in early June.
Though officials have drawn positive conclusions from the test phase, it will likely take at least a year of service to compile an in-depth assessment of the effectiveness and shortcomings of the mechanism.
