Gardaí may use phones instead of body-cams

Gardaí may be ordered to use smartphones to record incidents with the public as a cut-price alternative to hi-tech body cameras because of cost and information storage concerns.

Garda commissioner Drew Harris confirmed the option is being considered as a way to save money, saying each body camera could cost in the “mid-hundreds” of euro to buy. Asked during the Public Accounts Committee meeting if officers will be given body cameras similar to other countries, Mr Harris said new laws are needed before the plan can be introduced.

He said the use of body cameras was recommended by the commission on future policing and is a move he and front-line gardaí support as the equipment acts as an independent ‘eye-witness’ during confrontations.

However, responding to questions by Fianna Fáil TD Bobby Aylward, Mr Harris said that an estimated 10,000 smartphones due to be given to front-line gardaí could “be an alternative rather than buying a bespoke camera”.

“We just have to decide what way we want to go,” he said. “The legislation has to be passed, but if we’re doing a run of 10,000-odd smartphones which you can obviously record video on, well then that may be an alternative rather than buying a bespoke camera. I want that examined.”

Garda Representative Association president Jim Mulligan said the force is open to using “Garda-issued phones”, but said they are “not a substitute” for body cameras. Mr Harris’s suggestion was one of a series of IT concerns raised in the PAC meeting, including the fact dozens of stations have no broadband access and that only some Garda cars have windscreen cameras.