Thousands of new body cameras to be rolled out for police officers

An extra 110 head cameras will also be purchased for officers at public events.

It comes on the back of a successful trial when 1,617 body cameras and 263 head cameras given to frontline response officers three years ago.

The move was unveiled by Assistant Chief Constable Kenny Bell at a meeting of the force's strategic policing and crime board yesterday.

He said the cameras had increased the number of people charged in relation to crimes by 12 per cent, and the number of suspects pleading guilty to offences at an early stage by nine per cent.

It has also resulted in a 46 per cent drop in complaints in Wolverhampton, he added.

ACC Bell said: "It is now intended to extend the roll out of cameras to neighbourhood and other operation teams such as force traffic and force support units."

The extra cameras will cost £3.8m to roll out over the next five years. The force will also spend £1.4m on storage and system licences.

ACC Bell said technology was also being worked on to turn on the cameras in a vicinity where a taser in order to collect evidence.

And he said work was being done to allow data from the cameras to securely be transferred directly to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Security means only individual officers can access their footage along with their supervisors, investigators and specialist departments.

Around 15,800 videos are uploaded from officer cameras every month, and 12,800 images.

Around a quarter of videos and 80 per cent of images are kept for evidence.

The move has been welcomed by board member Dr Lynette Kelly.

The councillor for Coventry said: "Body-worn cameras are increasing confidence in policing both from our side and the public's side.

"The evidence that goes to courts, the evidence that is used for charging decisions is much clearer so if you have got a camera there you are much more likely to get an arrest, it is much more likely to result in charges.

"So the very fact the cameras are there is improving our efforts to clear up crime."

She added: "Officers are more efficient in the way they work, the cameras are helping save time which has to be a good thing when we have reduced numbers of police and crime has been going up."

Chief Superintendent Christopher Todd also told members at the meeting he was ensuring all officers using the devices were well trained in the technology.