Police Scotland is equipping 2,000 officers and members of staff with body-worn video cameras, to allow time for police and the public to grow familiar with their operation before the city hosts the Commonwealth Games in the summer.
The force first rolled out body-worn video (BWV) in Tayside in March 2025 and to date the 10,000 devices have recorded 700,000 clips amounting to 144,000 hours - or 16 days - of footage.
As Scotland’s largest policing division, Greater Glasgow manages the highest quota of events and policing operations but few will compare in scale to a global event like the XXIII Commonwealth Games.
Chief Constable Jo Farrell has prioritised the introduction of body worn video for the Service and planning timescales were structured to ensure the technology was supplied to local officers ahead of the Commonwealth Games.
Similar to body-worn video cameras utilised by other forces around the UK, officers clip the Motorola VB400 to their chest.
Demonstrating the device, Inspector Sacha Solman explained the camera will not be recording at all times, “We’ll record if we’re going to an incident, we’re dealing with an incident or arresting an individual.”
She says BWV will be pivotal for Glasgow officers to document ongoing incidents and offences.
“I don’t think you’ll be able to find anything that can tell the story better than an audio and video recording,” she said.
“We write reports to COPFS and other agencies,” she continued, “but having footage at the back of that, it strengthens that account.”
Overseeing the rollout of BWV to Glasgow officers and staff is the local policing commander for the division, Chief Superintendent Emma Croft.
She explained how equipping officers and staff well in advance of the bustling city streets of a Commonwealth Games host city will provide “additional officer security”.
She said, “Ultimately it adds safety to the public as well,” she said, “they understand what we’re doing and recording any activity that we have.
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“Things have changed since the Commonwealth Games in 2014, but we’re looking ahead with that in mind.
“Our officers will be out and about wearing body-worn video and will already have had practice during the summer events anyway and it’s adding that additional level of safety for the public and spectators.”
The Chief Superintendent said Police Scotland and the Greater Glasgow division started preparing for the Commonwealth Games “quite some time ago” and just 12 years after the games last came to Scotland’s largest city.
Every frontline uniformed police officer in Scotland - from Constable to Inspector rank - will wear a video camera on their uniform while on duty and will activate it when using police powers, whether a stop and search, an arrest of a suspect or executing a search warrant.
Police staff in custody suites will also use cameras when interacting with people in custody.
Police Scotland said captured footage may be used as evidence, but it will not replace existing procedures and requirements when gathering all available information.
It will remain a matter for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) to review and determine competence on a case-by-case basis.
At the end of a shift, officers will dock their cameras and upload footage to a secure police system in the cloud.
Footage linked to cases is forwarded to the Procurator Fiscal using the new Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) system but incident recordings not progressed through the legal system are deleted after a set period of time.
Police Scotland insists the introduction of body worn video is not intended to encourage the greater use of single police officer deployments or alter current deployment models for policing in Scotland.
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Police Scotland is equipping 2,000 officers and members of staff with body-worn video cameras, to allow time for police and the public to grow familiar with their operation before the city hosts the Commonwealth Games in the summer.
The force first rolled out body-worn video (BWV) in Tayside in March 2025 and to date the 10,000 devices have recorded 700,000 clips amounting to 144,000 hours - or 16 days - of footage.
As Scotland’s largest policing division, Greater Glasgow manages the highest quota of events and policing operations but few will compare in scale to a global event like the XXIII Commonwealth Games.
Chief Constable Jo Farrell has prioritised the introduction of body worn video for the Service and planning timescales were structured to ensure the technology was supplied to local officers ahead of the Commonwealth Games.
Similar to body-worn video cameras utilised by other forces around the UK, officers clip the Motorola VB400 to their chest.
Demonstrating the device, Inspector Sacha Solman explained the camera will not be recording at all times, “We’ll record if we’re going to an incident, we’re dealing with an incident or arresting an individual.”
She says BWV will be pivotal for Glasgow officers to document ongoing incidents and offences.
“I don’t think you’ll be able to find anything that can tell the story better than an audio and video recording,” she said.
“We write reports to COPFS and other agencies,” she continued, “but having footage at the back of that, it strengthens that account.”
Overseeing the rollout of BWV to Glasgow officers and staff is the local policing commander for the division, Chief Superintendent Emma Croft.
She explained how equipping officers and staff well in advance of the bustling city streets of a Commonwealth Games host city will provide “additional officer security”.
She said, “Ultimately it adds safety to the public as well,” she said, “they understand what we’re doing and recording any activity that we have.
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“Things have changed since the Commonwealth Games in 2014, but we’re looking ahead with that in mind.
“Our officers will be out and about wearing body-worn video and will already have had practice during the summer events anyway and it’s adding that additional level of safety for the public and spectators.”
The Chief Superintendent said Police Scotland and the Greater Glasgow division started preparing for the Commonwealth Games “quite some time ago” and just 12 years after the games last came to Scotland’s largest city.
Every frontline uniformed police officer in Scotland - from Constable to Inspector rank - will wear a video camera on their uniform while on duty and will activate it when using police powers, whether a stop and search, an arrest of a suspect or executing a search warrant.
Police staff in custody suites will also use cameras when interacting with people in custody.
Police Scotland said captured footage may be used as evidence, but it will not replace existing procedures and requirements when gathering all available information.
It will remain a matter for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) to review and determine competence on a case-by-case basis.
At the end of a shift, officers will dock their cameras and upload footage to a secure police system in the cloud.
Footage linked to cases is forwarded to the Procurator Fiscal using the new Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) system but incident recordings not progressed through the legal system are deleted after a set period of time.
Police Scotland insists the introduction of body worn video is not intended to encourage the greater use of single police officer deployments or alter current deployment models for policing in Scotland.
Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter
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