Kingston Council will equip its civil enforcement officers with body worn video cameras as part of a new four-week trial.

NSL, the Council's parking enforcement contractor, will introduce the measure on 6 April. If the trial is successful, the Council will look into making the cameras permanent.

The cameras are designed to assist prevention and detection of crime in relation to officers' health and safety, and will record incidents of verbal and physical abuse suffered by these officers.

Additionally, footage can also be used if a complaint may be raised about an officer's conduct.

The cameras will be clearly identifiable on the officers' uniforms. Any data captured is encrypted and stored on the device, before being transferred to a dedicated secure storage facility at the end of each shift. It will stay there for no more than 90 days, unless required for investigation, before being deleted.

The civil enforcement officers are not able to view or edit the footage in any way, and footage will never be shared with any third parties, unless where legally permitted under the 1998 Data Protection Act.

Councillor Hilary Gander, the Council's portfolio holder with responsibility for parking, said:

"The safety of our officers is absolutely paramount to us and we want to make sure we explore every avenue we can to make them feel 100% secure.

"Sadly, there are instances where they are subject to verbal or physical abuse. While these are rare, they are completely unacceptable - no one should be exposed to this simply by doing their job.

"We also want to ensure we have the full picture where a resident or visitor might have complained about the conduct of an officer.

"We hope this trial will give extra security to our officers and play an additional role in clamping down on crime."

If you would like to know how NSL uses your information or view the Privacy Impact Assessment, then please click HERE