‘Police body camera video cannot lie’

The video footage from a police body camera can offer "more believable" evidence in court, Malacañang said Tuesday.

The Palace made the point as the country's police force is set to finalize protocols on the use of such technology to record law enforcement operations.

According to Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, the police body camera footage, unlike people, cannot lie or be intimidated as an evidentiary tool.

He also dispelled privacy issues related to the use of the video as court evidence.

"Ang mga cameras, kasama po iyan sa tinatawag natin na physical evidence and physical evidence of course when being appreciated by the court is a lot more believable than testimonial kasi hindi po iyan pupuwedeng matakot, hindi po iyan pupuwedeng magsinungaling,” he said during an online briefing Tuesday.

"Wala naman pong issue sa pagtanggap ng body cam as evidence dahil ginagamit na po ito sa napakadaming bansa sa daigdig,” he added.

Roque however acknowledged that certain guidelines must be observed for the use of police body camera footage as evidence in court.

"This is physical evidence at ang iri-require lang po siguro is ma-qualify nga kung ano iyong camera at kung sino nagsuot noong camera na iyon at sino nag-turn on ng camera na iyon,” he added.

"I don’t think there should be any concerns about privacy kasi iaanunsiyo naman po natin, ng gobyerno iyan na lahat po ng pulis na pupunta sa operations ay may suot nang body cam,” he added.

The government had long planned to let police officers wear body cameras not only to record law enforcement operations but also to show transparency amid alleged abuses and other irregularities in some operations.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) plan however has yet to be fully implemented pending the completion of protocols.