Police to launch tender at end-October for body cams

The Hellenic Police (ELAS) is expected to launch a tender for the supply of 2,400 body-worn cameras for police officers as part of a wider bid to increase transparency and police accountability.

The tender comes a year and a half after Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the new measure during a parliamentary debate on police violence, in response to accusations of heavy-handed police tactics to quash street protests in May 2021. ELAS has reportedly settled on the technical specifications of the new cameras and now the tender is ready to be announced at the end of the month, an official from the Ministry of Citizens’ Protection told Kathimerini. The government has earmarked almost 10 million euros for the project from the current and next year’s budget.

The technical characteristics of the cameras are expected to be similar to those given in the spring of 2021 to other police units. About 20 officers of the motorcycle police unit DRASI and the crime prevention and suppression team (OPKE) are outfitted with the cameras as part of a pilot program to test their effectiveness. They are activated during police operations or any clashes with protesters, sending the footage back to the police’s Unified Coordination Center.

Officers from these units evaluate the impact of their use positively, saying that false complaints by citizens about excessive use of force during arrests and arraignments have been reduced, as it is easier to identify the perpetrators.

Another 20 cameras of a different type are used in a similar pilot program by riot police (MAT) officers. These were first used in December 2020 during a the evacuation of an administration building at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, however, technical problems were identified. Specifically, their lens was unable to focus.