PNP to buy 37,000 body cameras for drug raids

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police is planning to buy 37,000 body cameras for policemen’s use during drug raids, PNP spokesman Chief Supt. Dionardo Carlos said yesterday.

Carlos said the purchase of body cameras will be included in the PNP’s proposed budget for 2018.

“We hope that the request for 37,000 body cameras to be purchased will get approval of Congress,” Carlos said.?“According to our director of logistics, we are requesting budget for 37,000 units of body cams to be given to police operatives, who will be the priority,” he added.?Carlos noted some local government units have provided the local police with such cameras.

“While there are LGUs that are already providing the police stations with body cams, what we are asking is the standard specifications for these cameras. Right now, we need it to show transparency. Only those available in the market is what we are providing,” he explained.?Carlos said body cameras are currently being used by police investigators for documentation purposes.?In Eastern Visayas, regional police director Chief Supt. Gilbert Cruz was able to secure an initial 20 cameras, the “go pro-type” which is a cheaper version but with high resolution features. The cameras were provided by the local government units.?“In police operations, at least one of the policemen should have a camera… ideally why don’t we have 190,000 body cams. And let’s also have 190,000 radio handsets,” Carlos said.

“We will have the operational guidelines for that. After a police operation, police operatives need to surrender camera and SD (memory) card immediately to team leader coordinator for proper filing.” – With Jess Diaz