Admir Katica, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Canton Sarajevo (CS), confirmed that the police officers will start wearing cameras on their uniforms by the end of this year. He also referred to other details concerning this novelty.
He mentioned that the CS Government on Thursday accepted his initiative and the initiative of the Police Administration for the purchase of such cameras and that 490.000 BAM will be spent for that purpose.
Judging by the reactions of the citizens, most of them support this decision, believing that it will improve the work of the police. Sarajevo police officers will be the first in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to have to wear cameras on uniforms or so-called body cameras, which is the practice in some other states.
As Minister Katica told, the Police Administration is obliged to procure these cameras in cooperation with the United Nations Development Agency (UNDP). He explained why this is done in cooperation with UNDP.
“Considering that UNDP is very fast in conducting public procurement, I hope that it will happen as soon as possible. I cannot say exactly when, but it will be in the optimal timeframe,” he told.
Asked if that would happen this year, he replied that it certainly would.
“It is an item in the budget. It is my wish that we implement this item during this summer. I really hope that it will happen soon,” he added.
“Cameras will always be turned on, and there will be audio as well.”
He announced that the issue of wearing a camera will be additionally regulated by internal regulations. He stressed that the cameras will always be turned on during the shift of a police officer and that they will have to be worn by all police officers.
According to Katica, apart from the video, the cameras will enable audio recording.
He reiterated that the recordings from the cameras will be very useful material during the criminal processing and the investigation, and all that in order to discover the perpetrator of the criminal act, that is. establishing his identity.
“It will be possible to provide additional evidence so that an event can be properly reconstructed and so that all other evidence collected at the scene makes sense in some way,” stated Minister Katica.
Speaking about the reaction of the police officers to the announcement that they will have to wear body cameras, he said that he thinks that most of them do their job professionally. He assessed that in this way they will contribute to the protection of their integrity.
He also stated that the recordings will be used in cases of complaints about the work of the police, to establish the factual situation, Klix.ba writes.
E.Dz.
