National recommendation - National Police Chiefs' Council, April 2021

The IOPC recommends that the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for Body Worn Video (BWV) sends a message to all force BWV leads suggesting an update to their policies. Specifically, to advise officers who use force to gain entry to an address to utilise Body Worn Video when entering and leaving that address, so that the level of any damage caused to the point of entry can be documented. This is particularly important when an officer is of the view that a “boarding up” service is not required to be called and where there may be a future dispute with a complainant, about what level of damage was caused during an incidence of forced entry.

This matter has been identified following a complaint made by a member of the public, who disputed the level of damage caused by officers who entered her home using force, under S.17 of PACE. The complainant was of the view that the officers left her home in an insecure and unsafe state, however this was disputed by the attending officer. Had there been objective BWV footage available, then this would have assisted in showing if the officers view that the door was able to be secured as normal, was reasonable.

When initially considering making this as a local recommendation, our research showed that the College of Policing guidance has not been updated since 2014 and so forces are taking it upon themselves to expand on that guidance. As a result, a significant minority of forces already have such a policy in place. This, when combined with the evidence from our review of the Metropolitan Police Service investigation, indicates it is an effective approach that should be adopted on a national scale.

Do you accept the recommendation?

Yes

Accepted action:

The Chief Constable has written a letter to all forces cascading this recommendation. This has been distributed via the NPCC Intranet.