(MANILA BULLETIN)

A Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) official-turned-congressman wants to ensure that Philippine National Police (PNP) members know how to properly retrieve and handle data from body-worn cameras (bodycams).

In a House Committee on Public Order and Safety hearing Tuesday, May 9, Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan proposed that the PNP include the expenses for the training of personnel who will secure bodycam recordings in their proposed budget for 2024.

“You should include in your proposal for the body-worn cameras the corresponding training of personnel, because it is important that such individuals are highly-skilled to handle this kind of sensitive data,”  Yamsuan told PNP officials.

A former assistant secretary of the DILG, Yamsuan also said the national police force should ensure that these recordings are hack-free and tamper-proof when presented in court as evidence.

“For the individuals involved, it could affect their lives if the PNP commits errors in submitting these videos and other data,” Yamsuan said.

Discussed during the hearing were several measures seeking to institutionalize police use of bodycams during law enforcement operations, and appropriating funds for such purpose.

Antipolo 2nd district Rep. Romeo Acop, a vice chairperson of the committee and a former police general; along with PATROL Party-list Rep, Jorge Bustos, agreed with Yamsuan’s proposal.

Yamsuan pointed out that while body-worn cameras are now widely used to help deter inappropriate police behavior and protect crime suspects from abuses, there have been cases in other countries of law enforcement officers editing or deleting footage from such  devices.

Last year, it was reported that the Metro Nashville Police District in the United States edited portions of body-worn camera footage supposedly to remove profanity and expletives in the video clips.

The footage was part of the evidence in a police misconduct case.

The DILG, through the its attached agency, the National Police Commission (Napolcom), has supervisory function over the PNP.