Police Body Camera Bill

A Bill to Make all Police Officers in the United Kingdom wear body-cameras whilst on duty in order to better give evidence of the acts of both the Officers and the Accused in a Court of Law.

BE IT ENACTED by The Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Commons in this present Parliament assembled, in accordance with the provisions of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

Section I: Definitions

1) A ‘body camera’ is a video recording device which can be attached to the uniform of a police officer whilst on duty.

2) A ‘police officer’ is a policeman or policewoman who works for the police force.

3) A ‘police force’ is a body which controls the policing of a particular area of the United Kingdom.

Section II: Wearing of body cameras

1) As of the passage of this Bill, body cameras will be assigned by the Home Office to all of the police forces in the United Kingdom.

2) The Home Office shall ensure that each police force has enough body cameras for all on-duty police officers to use at any one time in their given region.

3) Any police officer not wearing a body camera as of the enforcement of this Bill shall be given one written warning.

4) If any police officer is caught not wearing a body camera after receiving a written warning they shall be permanently dismissed from the police force.

5) Any police officer who tries to obstruct or remove their body camera whilst on duty shall receive one written warning.

6) If any police officer is caught trying to obstruct or remove their body camera after receiving a written warning they shall be permanently dismissed from the police force.

Section III: Pricing of body cameras

1) 130,000 body cameras shall be purchased by the Home Office in order to give each police force in the United Kingdom enough body cameras for all on-duty police officers at any one time. Body cameras purchased by the Home Office must be full HD cameras with a storage capacity of 32GB or above.

2) The Budget for these body cameras shall be £200 per camera.

3) The Home Office shall receive £26 million extra funding to pay for this equipment in the first year after the enactment of this Bill.

4) The Home Office shall receive £5 million extra funding each year to pay for renewal of body cameras and to ensure all police forces in the UK have access to enough body cameras.

Section IV: Footage captured by the body cameras

1) All footage captured on body cameras shall be archived at the individual police stations of the police officers.

2) Footage captured on body cameras shall be available for all members of the public to see upon request to a particular police force.

3) Anyone caught trying to edit or delete footage captured by the body cameras shall receive a fine of between £2,000 to £5,000 and shall receive a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

4) The archives of the files containing the footage of these body cameras shall be locked away unless they are being updated by the police officers in that police station.

5) All footage captured shall be available for use in a Court of Law.

Section V: Extent

1) This Bill may be cited as the ‘Police Body Camera Act 2016’.

2) This Bill shall apply to the entirety of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

3) This Bill shall come into effect on 1st January 2017.

This Bill was submitted by /u/Mepzie on behalf of the Conservative Party.

The voting period for this bill will end on August 21st, 10PM BST.

Vote Aye, No or Abstain. Comments with anything else will be deleted. Comments that are edited will be void and not counted.

If a member is voting by proxy, they must have gained permission from the speaker prior to this vote. If no permission was sought and granted, their vote will not be counted.