By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

POLICE officers outfitted with new body camera technology are encountering better behaved residents while wearing them.

“Ordinarily, 70 percent of people would be aggressive when encountered,” one officer said yesterday on the sidelines of a media ride-along with the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

“Now, when they see the vest, their behaviour is very different.”

The statement came as police took the media through a short tour of the inner city yesterday, demonstrating the use of the recently acquired body cameras.

The demonstration come in the wake of a significant lull in violent crime in the country, with a number of weeks passing without a murder.

“It’s important on both sides,” Commissioner Anthony Ferguson said of the body cameras.

“It gives balance. If there’s a report of irregularities on behalf of police we’ll be able to see that and vice versa.”

The police chief said users of the device are unable to turn it off.

“It’s set by a technician and that’s done for obvious reasons. We don’t want officers to be able to tamper with device while out on the road.”

He said if necessary, the footage will also be used in court cases.

Commissioner Ferguson added: “I can tell you that the officers are excited. I’ve spoken to any number of people in the community and they are excited to see the police advancing their level of technology. We in the police force, particularly the executives and all members, are excited because we believe this will help the police image-wise and boost public confidence with the police.

“When police interact with members of the public, they can be assured police will be behaving with the utmost level of professionalism and can be assured that police are truly our friends because they know when we speak we are speaking the facts and there can be no doubt about the actions.

“Once testing is done we will move to acquire this practice for all of our mobile units. As of this date, the same thing is going on in Grand Bahama and Abaco.”