Police Officers in Kosice Equipped with First Body Cameras

Kosice/Bratislava, December 2 (TASR) - A pilot project for equipping police officers with body cameras was launched by the police directorate in Kosice on Sunday (December 1), the Kosice police have reported on a social network. Police officers are expected to wear the body cameras when taking action against individuals. "Before carrying out an action, police officers will be obliged to inform the individual concerned that the activities will be recorded in line with the Police Corps Act," reads the text. In November, police chief Lubomir Solak reported that as of December 1 the police plan to introduce body cameras as a pilot project in Bratislava and Kosice, with six cameras slated to be delivered to the capital city and ten cameras to Kosice. Human-rights watchers have been requesting that politicians should introduce cameras for years. The measure comes in response to a incident on November 5 that drew headlines when a police officer beat up a theft suspect so severely that the man succumbed to his injuries in hospital the day after. mf/df