PSP and GNR to receive first 2,500 body cameras in November

The first 2,500 handheld cameras for personal use will arrive at PSP and GNR this November, and each police officer has prepared an internal training plan for the use of “body cameras”, as announced this Thursday.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) presented a program for the purchase by policemen of portable cameras for individual use, the so-called “bodycams”.

MAI General Secretary Marcelo Mendonça de Carvalho explained that around 10,000 “body cameras” will be purchased by 2026, a number based on a survey conducted by each security service, namely 5,500 by the Public Security Police and 3,193 by the Republican National Guard.

Marcelo Mendonza de Carvalho said that an open tender for the purchase of “body cameras” will be launched in June, with the first 2,500 cameras to be delivered in November, another 2,500 in 2024, and the remaining 5,000 cameras to be distributed by 2026.

“Since there are no complaints about the tender, by the end of October-November we will be able to receive the first cameras to be placed in law enforcement agencies,” said the Minister of the Interior, noting that 10,000 “body cameras” will have an investment of five million euros under the Program infrastructure and equipment for security forces and services.

Pedro da Silva Nogueira, commander of the GNR Intervention Unit’s Public Order Intervention Team, explained that the introduction of cameras will be “gradual and phased” and will be activated according to the “danger, risk and complexity” of the situation. .

Pedro da Silva Nogueira said that GNR has already prepared an in-house training program that will be provided when the equipment arrives at the corporation.

PSP Operations Department Director Pedro Moura also said that the police will have a training period and will have an internal document in which the rules will be set.

According to Pedro Moura, the calculation of the necessary equipment has been made according to the operational arrangement, and since the acquisition of “body cameras” will be phased in, the PSP will initially give preference to the response units, which are police officers who are on vehicle patrol and dismounted, and rapid response teams. responses were the first to use this equipment.

According to the Minister of the Interior, the use of “body cameras” by the police is “an important step towards improving the operational activities of the PPR and the PSP, protecting law enforcement officers from accusations of allegedly unlawful use of force and protecting citizens from possible acts that violate their rights, freedoms and guarantees “.

The “body cameras” will only be purchased following the completion of a public tender announced this week for the Unified Video Security Platform, which is due to close in June.

“The implementation of the GNR and PSP retooling program began this Monday with the publication of an international public tender worth 1.48 million euros for the acquisition of a platform that will store information, images and sounds collected by body cameras. “, said the minister.

José Luis Carneiro also stressed that even at this stage, and before the acquisition of “body cameras”, another tender will be held in the amount of about 750 thousand euros for the purchase of computer services and data protection.

According to MAI, these two competitions are funded by the Recovery and Resilience Program.

The platform will have as a requirement the ability to centrally manage all types of technology related to video surveillance equipment, namely “television cameras” and municipal video surveillance systems, as well as connect to remote systems installed in nightclubs or advertising centers.

The Secretary General of MAI stated that the platform will be integrated into the national internal security network under the responsibility of the General Secretariat of MAI, but this responsibility is limited to “only operation and maintenance.”

“The General Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Affairs guarantees that the system is safe and works, but does not have any access to the content located inside the platform,” he said, stressing that the platform has “limited access for the security forces.” and criminal investigation agencies.

According to Marcelo Mendonza de Carvalho, content posted on this platform is automatically deleted after 30 days, except for those that are subject to criminal investigation, disciplinary proceedings and inspections.