Belgian federal police equipped with 3,000 bodycams, emergency services will follow later this year

The Belgian government has bought 3,000 body cameras to equip federal police officers. Before the end of the year, Minister of Security and Home Affairs Bernard Quintin wants to expand the legal framework to emergency services.

Bodycams are currently being used by various local police zones, but the federal police will soon be able to use them as well. The technical infrastructure for this, including the servers where the images will be stored, is currently being tested extensively.

“We anticipate operational use by the end of this year,” a spokesperson of Minister Quintin tells Belgian news outlet Het Laatste Nieuws.

By equipping federal police officers with body cameras, the government wishes to increase transparency and mutual trust between citizens and the police force. In addition, body cameras should better protect police officers during so-called ‘high-risk interventions.’

It doesn’t stop there. The government wants to provide emergency services, like paramedics, firefighters, security personnel, and train conductors, with body cameras as well. A new bill, however, will have to be passed before emergency services are allowed to wear body cameras. Minister Quintin says he’ll present this bill to the Belgian parliament by the end of November.

All footage that is recorded with the body cameras is stored centrally. All images have to be kept for at least 30 days. Police officers are also obliged to start recording interventions 30 seconds in advance, so a broader context is captured.

Officers must also warn the person involved that the bodycam is activated, unless it is a large group or the severity of the intervention does not allow it.

Violence against aid workers has increased significantly, and equipping them with body cameras should help them protect themselves.

“To prevent aggression and violence against train conductors and emergency services, I want to use bodycams/cameras like the police. We will have zero tolerance for verbal and physical violence against emergency services and train conductors. The use of bodycams by the police has a positive impact: de-escalation in incidents and in the case of violence, video recordings can help to analyze the context,” Minister Quintin said back in March.