KITTING OUT east London officers with body cameras is a step towards police becoming “robots”, anti-surveillance campaigners claim.

The Metropolitan Police announced yesterday (March 20) 900 officers and PCSOs across Redbridge, Havering, and Barking and Dagenham, are now being equipped with “body warn video (BWV) devices.

From this week officers in the three boroughs will be able to start filming incidents whenever they want in the hope of “bringing speedier justice for victims”.

But anti-surveillance campaigners No CCTV say the Met’s claims the cameras will offer “greater transparency” are deeply flawed.

Spokesman Charles Farrier said: “The roll-out of police body cameras in east London is part of the continuing robotisation of police.

“We are told these cameras will magically reassure Londoners and increase transparency, yet just last week the Surveillance Camera Commissioner singled out the Met Police as playing “fast and loose” with people's data.

“Claims that body cams will deliver speedier justice are contradicted by the recent study which found that they cause confrontational incidents to escalate.”

Mr Farrier referred to a recent study by academics at the University of Cambridge that suggests attacks on police officers are 15 per cent higher when they are wearing cameras.

But the Met is determined the new cameras, soon due to be rolled out across all 32 London boroughs, bring quicker guilty pleas.

Chief Superintendent for Redbridge’s east area command Sean Wilson said: “Body Worn Video is an important addition to the equipment we provide to our front line officers.

“It can be difficult to articulate what officers have witnessed however, with both an audio and visual capability, the cameras provide much needed context in our presentation of evidence.

“I see the issuing of the cameras as an important mechanism to combat crime and one which will support both officers and the public.”

The cameras are not constantly on record and are only turned on when officers decide to use them.

The Met claim people are told “as soon as is practical” that they are being recorded as part of a police incident.

The footage is then docked and can be used as evidence within the next 31 days before it is automatically deleted.

If members of the public want to view footage taken of them they will have to submit a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to obtain it, unless it is still being used as evidence.

In the coming months 22,000 body cameras will be used by officers across the capital.