By Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/PNA
MANILA – New Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Police Gen. Guillermo Eleazar on Sunday (May 9) said they are waiting for the Supreme Court (SC) to approve the protocols that will guide law enforcers on the proper use of body-worn cameras in their operations.
“Kami naman po ay nagkaroon ng ugnayan na rin sa Supreme Court, at ang mungkahi nga nila after the protocol, at least doon sa mga pag-iimplement natin ng mga search warrants, is meron na rin ito, pero sa iba naman depende sa sitwasyon,” Eleazar said in an interview over DZBB on Sunday.
Eleazar said the use of body cameras will not only improve police operations but will protect both the law enforcers and the people, particularly the subject of the search warrant.
The PNP early this year acquired 2,696 body-worn cameras and their associated systems from San Juan City-based EVI Distribution Inc.
Each major police station will be given 16 body cameras, eight of which will be used by patrolling operatives while the remaining eight will be reserved for other operations.
The cameras will be equipped with SIM (subscriber identity module) cards that will be used to feed videos to the PNP Command Center.
The body cameras are waterproof and can record video for up to eight hours.
The officers wearing them cannot interfere with its configuration and they cannot turn those off while on duty.
Eleazar said the body cameras have already been distributed to the city police stations.
“Na-distribute na ‘yan sa mga police stations, pero hindi pa po kumpleto ‘yung lahat ng mga protocols, so ire-review ko po ‘yan at sisiguraduhin naman natin na as soon as possible, magamit na po natin.
“Pero liliwanagin po natin ang distribution po nito ay para lamang sa mga city police stations, dahil hindi enough para ma-distribute para sa ating mga municipal police stations,” he said.
He expressed hope that Congress will allot additional funds for the purchase of additional body cameras for municipal police stations throughout the country.
-(PNA) -jlo