THE POLICE says the required infrastructure is in place to allow for the increased usage of body cameras, including "sufficient docking stations for charging the devices."

In a statement on Monday, the police said, having received 1,000 body cameras in March, 477 of them had since been distributed among ten police units across TT.

"A total of 451 officers were trained in the use of body-worn cameras, with 90 per cent of these officers attached to the nine Divisional Task Forces in Trinidad and the Traffic and Highway Patrol Branch."

The statement said the Tobago Division received 20 body cameras on Monday and that required training for officers in that division would begin next week.

"Eighty more cameras will be allocated to the division before the end of the month."

A daily newspaper article published on Sunday, quoted acting Commissioner of Police McDonald Jacob as saying that distribution of the body cameras had been hampered by a lack of technological infrastructure.

"There needs to be, when they (officers) come back with it, they need to have a place to store it to be recharged and so on. So there is a need for recharging stands. But we are putting those infrastructures in place."

Monday's police statement, however, painted a better picture.

It said, "The TTPS also wishes to advise that a centralised management system for recorded video has been put in place and is currently undergoing the requisite configuration prior to being activated.

"There are also sufficient docking stations for charging the devices and these are being placed at strategic locations across all ten divisions."

The statement added that additional distribution of cameras across the service was expected by the end of August.

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