The competition for platforms for managing police body cameras, which lasted more than a year, ends

The tender for the purchase of a platform that will manage information from PSP and GNR “body cameras” has been completed for more than a year, and the current government will still consider the number of cameras purchased.

The previous government launched a €1.48 million public tender in April last year for the acquisition of a unified video system security platform designed, in particular, to manage information collected by “body cameras.”

This competition has already been held twice, most recently in March this year, and is currently suspended.

In a response sent to Lusa, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) said that the open tender jury is currently “analyzing the application of one of the competitors to the preliminary report that was sent to all competitors” on April 9.

This platform will have as its requirements the ability to centrally manage all types of technologies associated with video surveillance equipment, namely portable cameras for individual use by police officers, so-called “body cameras” and municipal CCTV systems, as well as connection to remote systems installed in nightlife establishments or shopping centers.

However, only after the completion of the competition for the purchase of the platform will the stage of purchasing “body cameras” to be equipped with PSP and GNR elements follow.

When asked whether the current government would support this platform, the decision of which was made by the previous leader, MAI responded that the technical requirements for the competitive platform were determined by a working group consisting of representatives of the security forces and the MAI technology department. , being “this and other technological means of particular operational significance.”

The ministry, overseen by Margarida Blasco, also states that after “the completion of this tender procedure, the needs of the force will be reviewed” regarding the number of cameras to be purchased.

The intention of the previous socialist government was to acquire approximately 10,000 “body cameras” in stages by 2026, with an investment of five million euros. will reach PSP and GNR in November last year, but this did not happen.

The decree-law that regulates the use of hand-held cameras for individual use by police officers was already published in the Diário da República in January 2023, and police officers have long demanded the use of “body cameras.”

In a response sent to Luse, the MAI also states that investing in security forces “is a priority of this legislature.”

The ministry also argues that new tools such as CCTV systems, body cameras, drones and security force image recording systems are “fundamental tools” that should be relied upon “to provide control mechanisms that guarantee conditions of security for citizens and their property, but and as guarantors of the safety and working conditions of the security forces specialists themselves.”