The Parliamentary Ombudsman noted the findings may be a reason to review laws on the use of body worn video systems by officers.
The current rules enabling police officers to independently decide whether to save or delete bodycam video footage are legally problematic, according to a decision by Petri Jääskeläinen, the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
The National Police Board’s guidelines for officers who wear body cameras while on duty state that officers can assess for themselves whether recorded audio and video recordings are deleted or saved, based on their own judgement.
Police officers in Finland gradually started using body worn video systems a few years ago, with the devices rolling out to departments across the country in 2021.
The Ombudsman said that the rules give officers an opportunity to remove parts of recordings that could make it difficult to assess how they handle situations and procedures while carrying out their duties.
Jääskeläinen’s decision found that police officers cannot be left to decide about the deletion or inclusion of data in the department’s files, at least not in cases in which allegations have been made about the officer’s improper handling of procedure or in cases in which complaints or criminal complaints have been filed.
To ensure this, the Ombudsman said that the original recordings should remain unaltered for a short period of time. However, the decision did not specify how long the recordings should be saved.
The Ombudsman noted that because legal issues concerning body cam recordings are ultimately decided by the administrative court, the recordings should be saved for a long enough period of time that the court can process the material.
The Ombudsman noted that these findings may be a reason to amend laws on the use of officer body cams.
The Parliamentary Ombudsman has asked the National Police Board to explain by the end of April what measures its decision may have prompted.
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