Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Police is set to procure “body cameras” for its personnel as part of its “smart policing” initiative, with the twin purpose of strengthening security and increasing transparency, reported a national daily.
“The J&K Police force is about 90,000 strong, so the body cameras can’t be available for everyone. They will first be provided for law and order personnel and the traffic police,” national daily quoted DGP S P Vaid as saying.
The report quoted IGP (Kashmir) S P Pani said the cameras would be mounted on the uniforms as a “visible interface between citizens and law enforcement”. Saying this was a major step forward, he said: “This is a civic measure aimed at increasing accountability within the force. We are training our boys for using this.”
The CRPF, which has been using body cameras in the state for over a year, considers it an “effective measure”. “What this does is that it keeps recording and transmitting to the ops room. So, during operations, it helps guide the forces on the ground and also helps in the analysis, after the operation or the law and order situation is over,” the report quoted IG CRPF, Zulfiqar Hassan.