THE LAW ON CAMERAS IN POLICE UNIFORMS AND PATROL CARS WAS PASSED - WHAT THEY WILL RECORD AND IN WHICH CASES THEY WILL BE ACTIVATED - Filenews 26/3 by Theodora Nikolaou
The Parliament unanimously voted to amend the Police Law, in order to enable members of the Cyprus Police to place portable cameras on their police uniforms and outfits, as well as on the vehicles of the Cyprus Police with or without insignia.
In particular, according to the provisions of the law, the activation of a portable camera and its use to capture and record audio and image is allowed only in the following cases:
- Arrest and/or search of a person.
- Pursuit of any person or means of transport.
- Objection of a person or means of transport for an investigation, including the conduct thereof, and for the reporting of any offense in violation of any law of the Republic.
- Entering a place for research, including conducting it.
- Attendance of members of the Cyprus Police at the scenes of the commission of an offense.
- Riots and mass episodes of violence.
- Conducting high-risk operations – meaning the situation that is reasonably considered dangerous, unsettled, unpredictable or fragile – as defined in the proposed regulations, which include, but are not limited to, terrorist incident, kidnapping, armed robbery, shooting, suicide attempt and others, such as riot suppression, rioting, mass incidents of violence, execution of orders and the exercise of powers under the Psychiatric Hospitalization Act Law, as well as persons who are reasonably considered dangerous due to an active serious mental disorder.
In addition, according to the regulations, in order for the capture and recording of material by portable cameras to be considered legal, the following conditions must be met, among others:
- Information, whenever possible, immediately after the activation of the portable camera, both of the person for whom it was activated and of any other person who enters the field of reception and recording of the audiovisual material, while the portable camera is in operation. The update must take place immediately after the start of operation of the handheld camera and during the recording and recording of sound and images, except in exceptional cases where this is not immediately reasonably possible.
- Use of portable cameras which, when capturing and recording audio and video, emit a light signal, so that their operation is visually perceived by the public.
- An indication of the day, time and place of the Cyprus Police member who switches on the handheld camera immediately after it has been activated and immediately after its closure by that member for the purpose of recording this information.
- Destruction of audiovisual material, in accordance with the provisions of the political destruction of witness material, which is determined by the Chief of Police by relevant police order, with the consent of the competent police director or unit commander, when it is found that this is not related to and/or does not assist the investigation or prosecution of any offense. It is provided that this material is destroyed after the lapse of three months from the date on which the consent for its destruction was given and, in any case, no later than six months from the receipt of the relevant material. At the same time, safeguards are put in place so that in the event that a request is submitted for the preservation of audiovisual material for its use in civil judicial proceedings, it will be kept for a longer period of time and will be destroyed with the conclusion of this procedure before the court or with the limitation period of the right to initiate civil judicial proceedings in relation to it.
Furthermore, the possibility of using the audiovisual material as witness material in the context of disciplinary proceedings is added.
With regard to the capture and recording with a handheld camera scenes of body search of sensitive areas of the body of any person and/or person without clothing and/or who is partially dressed in such a way that the sensitive areas of the body remain uncovered, it is permissible provided that the sensitive areas of the body, which are now defined as the genitals, the anal area, The buttocks and breasts will be technically shaded during the projection of the audiovisual material recorded by a portable camera.
There is also provision for the storage of audiovisual material in encrypted form both on the portable camera and on a server of the Cyprus Police.
In addition to the above, the regulations establish as an offense for which a prison sentence not exceeding three years is determined a case in which a person deliberately:
1. Operates and uses a portable camera in violation of the provisions proposed in the bill,
2. gains unauthorised access to, or attempts to gain access to, or causes or permits another unauthorised person to gain access to portable camera audiovisual material obtained either in accordance with or in contravention of the proposed arrangements; and
3. discloses or attempts to disclose without authorization to another unauthorized person the audiovisual material of a portable camera taken either in accordance with the proposed regulations or in violation thereof.
According to the Chairman of the Legal Committee, Nikos Tornaritis, this legislation enhances the effectiveness of police action against organized crime and contributes to the better documentation of cases in court. "Cyprus is taking another big step towards a modern, reliable and European Police," he stressed.
