Firefighters in Staffordshire to be fitted with body cameras

The equipment has already raised concerns when rolled out to other fire services in the country, with union members fearing it will erode public trust.

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has confirmed it is the latest organisation to consider deploying cameras with a trial involving 12 cameras set to begin next month.

Then a full pilot, costing up to £23,000, of around 40 cameras, will get under way by the end of this year.

Should that be successful, a wider roll-out, costing a similar amount, would take place afterwards. Fire chiefs believe in the short-term the footage will help learn from incidents, as well as assist in fire and police investigations.

While in the long-term the technology would have the capability to live-stream operations.

Fire services in the West Midlands and Hampshire became the first to announce they were adopting body-worn cameras last year. It prompted some concerns from the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) that the public would become suspicious of firefighters wearing cameras.

However, the Staffordshire branch of the union has welcomed the scheme.

Spokesman Barry Downey said: “We have not got any overarching objections. We want them to be used as a learning and training tool.

“Hopefully it will be trialled on attending officers at the scene rather than firefighters. It will be used as a learning tool. We would not want to see it used for law enforcement or internal disciplinary investigations against firefighters.”

“In terms of police and fire investigations it would be into fires started deliberately.

“We would object if any footage from cameras was used in other types of criminal investigations of any other kind.”

Neil Gordon, leading the project for SFRS, said: “Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service’s vision of the benefits for body-worn video is to overtly capture video and voice data during the course of their duty such as at operational incidents, exercises and other appropriate operational training events.

“The introduction of body worn video is solely for the development of our service, enhancing our already high standard incident decision making to protect life and property. These devices will give more protection to communities and firefighters alike across Staffordshire. Staffordshire Fire and Rescue prides itself on community engagement and over many years maintains that trust and this will continue with the introduction of Body Worn Video.”