The Rotterdam Police Unit will put a new video vehicle into service in the municipality of Dordrecht this month. This is a pilot that will run from August 2022 to July 2023. If incidents occur outside Dordrecht, but within the working area of the Police Unit Rotterdam, it can be decided to deploy the video vehicle here as well.
Fifteen employees are currently trained to work with the vehicle. They know what images they are allowed to use. "The access and use rules that apply to this camera footage are the same as for all other camera footage collected by the police themselves," the police reported in an announcement on its website (1).
The vehicle has a rotating camera on the mast and four dome cameras on the roof. These dome cameras provide 360-degree images around the police vehicle. The swivel camera is equipped with a thermal (thermal imaging) sensor and day/night vision sensor. In addition, a number of livestream bodycams will be located in the car.
The officers in the car will normally operate the camera. If the situation calls for it, an employee in the control room can also operate the cameras. This allows remote monitoring to estimate whether additional police deployment is needed, for example.
The police give three reasons why this camera vehicle adds value:
It improves "operational awareness. A police officer can see the situation with his own eyes from a distance. This works faster and more effectively than verbal descriptions.
It provides "remote expertise. The police state that someone watching live remotely can support police at the scene with specialist knowledge or by quickly looking something up.
Images can be used as evidence after the incident.
The police state first and foremost that filming on the street is not allowed. "But it is allowed if there is a legal basis for it and if it is necessary. Those conditions are met in this experiment." In fact, the deployment of this vehicle complies with the Police Data Act. Bystanders are also actively made aware of the camera by stickers on the car. The cameras may only be used according to the Police Act if these criteria are met:
Deployment of cameras is necessary for maintaining public order.
There is a concrete reason.
There is no lighter tool than a camera that can achieve the same goal.
Camera surveillance is brief and not systematic.
The swivel camera and dome camera cannot record sound. Like all bodycams, the livestream bodycams will record sound. Video footage will be stored for 28 days. If the footage is needed for investigative investigations "or some other important purpose," this period may be extended. What constitutes important purposes, however, remains unclear.
Police report that "appropriate measures - technical and organizational - to protect all recordings from unauthorized or unlawful processing, from intentional loss, destruction or damage" are deployed. As an example of technical measures, the police give the impossibility of sending images via wifi or bluetooth. As an example of organizational measures, the police cite that not everyone is allowed to operate the cameras.
The footage will be stored in the same secure storage at the National Police Unit where helicopter footage is already currently stored. When it comes to who is allowed to view the footage, the same rules that apply to all other police camera footage will be followed.
The police must also comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (AVG). This states that you have a number of rights when it comes to your own personal data. For example, you have the right to access, rectify, change and destroy data, restrict processing and may object.
If you want to see your data, including the camera images taken of you, make a written request to the privacy desk of your own region. Should you have any complaints about unlawful use of your personal data, you can contact the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (AP).
https://www.politie.nl/nieuws/2022/januari/28/07-videovoertuig-eenheid-rotterdam.html
