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Hanover (dpa / lni) - The police in Lower Saxony are now using over 500 body cams.
The cameras, which the officers usually carry on their shoulders, are supposed to record what is happening in conflict-prone situations and help to relax such situations.
At the beginning of the year, the number of body cameras at the Göttingen police headquarters was more than doubled to a total of 121.
Previously, the Hanover Police Department received 34 body cameras for nationwide use in all 24 offices.
The cameras should also protect the officers from excesses of violence and serve to secure evidence.
"So far there has been very positive feedback on the body cameras from our police officers," said Interior Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) of the dpa news agency.
"The cameras are now being used in all police headquarters in Lower Saxony."
The visibility of the bodycam on the uniform is often enough to prevent escalations and ultimately prevent them.
"This has a positive effect on the safety and ultimately also on the health of our police officers."
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39 cameras are available in the Braunschweig Police Department, 138 in Lüneburg, 105 in Oldenburg and 72 in Osnabrück. Initially, a total of around 500 body cams should be procured via the Lower Saxony Logistics Center (LZN);
The day's recordings are transferred to a server in Hanover via a docking station in the police station.
There they are deleted after 28 days - unless they are required as evidence in criminal proceedings.
The officers who have a camera with them have a specially marked uniform with the inscription «Video recording».
The use of cameras is possible due to a new law.
The Police and Public Order Act, which came into force in May 2019, allows the police, under certain conditions, to make image and sound recordings of operations in public spaces.
Recordings of operations in private rooms are not permitted.
There had initially been discussions about the legality of the records.
A first pilot project with body cams started in Hanover in 2016.