"Low-Performance Police Bodycams Rarely Used...On-Site Officers Even Buying Their Own"

Prevention of Abuse of Police Authority and Assault on Officers
80% of Police Prefer Private Equipment Due to Low Performance
Assemblyman Park Wan-joo: "Waste of Public Funds... Must Operate Effectively"

Police cam footage [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Concerns have been raised that the performance of the so-called 'body cams' (wearable police cams) piloted by the police is low, leading on-site officers to purchase commercial products at their own expense for use.

According to data submitted by the National Police Agency to Park Wan-joo, a member of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, wearable police cams, which are body-worn recording cameras, have been operated for six years from 2015 until August this year to prevent police officers' abuse of authority and to prevent assaults against officers. Following the first phase of operation targeting 20 police stations across nine metropolitan and provincial police agencies nationwide, a second phase began with mass deployment to three police stations in Seoul: Mapo, Yeongdeungpo, and Gangnam.

However, the number of wearable cam video downloads, which was 141 at the time of introduction, increased to 180 in 2016 but sharply dropped to 63 in 2017, and this year ended with zero downloads, concluding the pilot project. In particular, it was revealed that the number of times police officers wore the devices on-site has been nonexistent since last year.

Park pointed out that the low usage rate is due to the outdated functions of the wearable cams compared to commercial products. According to a survey conducted in 2019 among police officers involved in the pilot operation, about 80% of respondents said they preferred privately purchased body cams over the provided devices. Due to complicated usage procedures, insufficient battery capacity, and frequent malfunctions, the performance of the distributed devices lagged significantly behind commercial products, making them more of a burden in the field.

Park Wan-joo, member of the Democratic Party of Korea.

Nevertheless, there is strong demand for wearable police cams at the front lines. According to the 'Wearable Police Cam Pilot Project Operation Termination Report,' 73% of respondents said they would continue to use body cams even if controls on device usage were tightened, and some officers were found to be purchasing commercial products instead of low-performance supplied devices.

In fact, during a police assault incident in Daegu in May 2019, the body cam footage held by the officer involved was used as evidence to arrest the perpetrators. Additionally, in August of the same year, the police, who were criticized for inadequate initial response to the 'Amsa Station knife rampage incident,' were able to clear their name thanks to footage from a body cam purchased at the officer's own expense of 210,000 KRW from the Cheonho Police Substation.

Park emphasized, "As a government agency operating a project funded by taxpayers' money, the National Police Agency has an obligation to run the project properly, but it ended up wasting public funds by introducing equipment inferior to commercial products," adding, "Given the high demand for wearable police cams in the field, efforts must be made to promote and operate the project effectively."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.