Live stream body worn cameras

It has been picked up in the national news that MPs have recommended that enforcement agents wear body worn cameras when visiting homes and businesses with the report from the Justice Committee stating, “This would protect both the agent and debtor and help make it easier to investigate complaints,”.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s evidence stated that they had not found fault in any case where the enforcement agent was wearing a body worn camera. The LGSCO also added; “The availability of body-worn video camera evidence means we can make a firm ruling on complaints about the behaviour of the bailiffs, as opposed to relying on the unsupported statements of the parties involved.”

There was strong support from the Justice Committee for making body-worn cameras mandatory: a typical response was that “use of this technology should be mandated […] as it serves to discourage unfounded complaints and is a vital tool in resolving questions and complaints quickly and unequivocally. Russell Hamblin-Boone of CIVEA suggested that he would absolutely welcome this “from an adjudication point of view and a protection point of view”.

Live stream camera trialling

At Excel we are trialling the use of live stream body worn cameras, this cutting-edge technology runs off both Wi-Fi and 4G enabling enforcement agents to run the data from their mobile devices.

The technology will have numerous benefits including the ability for footage to be viewed live by the operations team in the back office. This is particularly beneficial if the enforcement agents are aware that they might encounter issues with a debtor, or if they are on an arrest warrant.

The cameras we are trialling are weather proof, with up to 14 hours continuous recording. They have booking marking at the touch of a button so that key moments can be highlighted in the recording by the wearer of the device.

Other notable features include:

• Audio capture
• Wide angled lens with 130-degree view
• Lightweight (100g)
• Each frame has date and watermark

We are very keen to carry out a robust trial and the next stage of this is that a select number of our agents will be wearing them in the field and providing regular reports to the IT and operations teams to give feedback. At Excel we endeavour to provide our enforcement agents with the best level of protection we can, and this is a trial we hope will be a success.