Body cameras on police yet to yield desired results

Citizens feel nothing has improved in the way traffic wardens deal with them

LAHORE:

In a bid to increase transparency and accountability, the traffic police in Karachi were equipped with body cameras but so far the initiative has failed to generate the desired results due to a lack of technology literacy.

At a cost of Rs 120 million to the public exchequer, the Sindh Police recently purchased 800 body cameras for their officers in Karachi and gave 440 of these to the traffic police so they could monitor how their wardens were performing on the job. However, residents of Karachi feel that initiative has done little to improve the traffic police’s performance.

“The traffic police still treat us in the same rough and tough manner, so there is little point of the cameras,” informed Alim Ullah, a motorcyclist on II Chundrigar Road. “It feels like the cameras do not even work because if the department knew how the wardens treat the general populace then would have taken action.”

Similarly, Moazzam Ali, who was getting fuel at a petrol station near Zainab Market, said that it seemed the police were not afraid of being reprimanded that is why they had not changed their attitude despite the body cameras.

Other residents of the city that the Express Tribune spoke to were in agreement with Ali’s assessment that either the police did not care about the cameras, turned them off when convenient, or the cameras did not work. When asked about the residents’ concerns with the cameras and the traffic police’s attitude, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Traffic Karachi, Ahmed Nawaz Cheema, claimed that his officers only turned off their cameras when they were eating or using the restroom.

“No officer turns off their camera unnecessarily. The control room installed in the Inspector General’s Office is used to monitor these cameras on a regular basis,” informed Cheema. “If any officer turns off their camera for too long or points it in the wrong direction, then we will take departmental action against him.”

When asked about the lack of technology literacy impacting the use of body cameras, Cheema replied that the initiative was still in a testing phase and had not been formally inaugurated.

“Several technical issues have emerged during the testing phase like weak internet signals and cameras not being charged properly,” conceded Cheema, adding that the lack of docking stations was impacting the devices being charged properly. However, the DIG quickly added that the department was on top of the issues and would resolve them soon.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2023.