The Berlin Greens oppose the SPD’s proposal to purchase 4,000 so-called bodycams for the Berlin police and fire brigade in the short term. “In principle, I think the way to use bodycams is right,” said the parliamentary group leader of the Greens, Werner Graf, the daily mirror. “But I don’t think it’s well thought out to cut out large numbers for the election campaign and to buy 4,000 bodycams.”
Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) had demanded the purchase of the cameras as a result of the New Year’s riot. The recordings of the bodycams, which emergency services wear directly on their bodies and can switch on if necessary, can serve as evidence – even against the police officers themselves. They have to film if citizens request it.
“I keep hearing from the police and fire departments that bodycams are the right approach,” Spranger recently told the Tagesspiegel. “We would then have more evidence of the crimes committed on New Year’s Eve. The delay in the bodycams is clearly at the expense of the rescue and emergency services.”
300 such cameras are currently being tested in Berlin, 250 by the police and 50 by the fire brigade. As of now, the test phase is scheduled to run until April 2024. Between August 2021 and autumn 2022, the devices were triggered 121 times.
“We first have to test where it makes sense to use them in the field, so that the cameras really help both the police and the civil rights of those affected,” said Graf. “That’s why the test that the coalition has already agreed on is the better way.” It is expected that the purchase of further bodycams will also be an issue at the upcoming Senate meeting on Tuesday.
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