Victoria Police is trialling the use of body cameras to record statements of family violence victims and use them as the main evidence, in order to save the victims reliving their ordeal in court.
Officers in Ballarat and Epping are using body cameras to collect digital statements of victims in a 12-month trial.
Victoria Police said in a statement that the digitally recorded statements may be used as the main evidence in the court and the aim is reduce the victim’s trauma associated with giving evidence in court.
“We understand it can be a difficult experience for victims to re-live the trauma of family violence incidents when giving evidence in court, and we’re hoping to reduce this,” Assistant Commissioner Dean McWhirter said.
The use of digitally recorded statements as “evidence-in-chief” means that a victim will not need to repeat their experience in court. They will, however, still need to be present in court to attest to the truthfulness of the statement and for cross-examination.
While a statement recorded on a body camera will be considered the main evidence, police officers still have the option of taking a written statement.
The trial is currently on in Ballarat and Epping, in Melbourne’s north.
Twenty police officers have so far completed the training with the Victoria police aiming to train most of their officers in these two locations where the trial is on by early November.
The year-long trial will be evaluated at the end of it for effect on the victims, and the administration of justice.
The Victoria police is also hoping it will help them gather higher quality evidence which in turn could result in increased guilty pleas.
