Traffic cops in east London will be fitted with body-worn cameras from this week, in the Met’s largest roll-out of the technology to date.

Police working in the force’s east London traffic unit, based in Chadwell Heath, first began using the cameras yesterday (Monday June 26).

Around 900 traffic officers will now wear the cameras across the capital, with a further 950 officers from the Met’s Safer Transport Team (STT) also due to be issued with devices over the summer.

To date Body-Worn Video (BWV) has also been rolled out to police working in 22 different boroughs.

Superintendent Thomas Naughton, of the Roads and Transport Police Command, said: “Our traffic officers are often involved in pursuits and dealing with serious criminality and the BWV will support the evidence chain when apprehending offenders.

“The BWV will also in the longer term reduce the abstraction rate of officers attending court and most importantly support officer safety.

“Trials show the footage helps us present clear evidence and secure convictions at court.”

The Met first announced some 22,000 body cameras would be issued to its officers in October last year.

The force claims the cameras bring about “speedier justice” and will give Londoners “greater transparency” during any interactions they may have with the police.

However, in some quarters, the move has proved controversial.

Anti-surveillance campaign group, No CCTV, has previously criticised the decision, branding it: “a worrying trend of robotisation of the police”.

The Met says is has recorded more than 370,000 videos since camera trials began in September 2016, of which almost 200,000 have now been deleted.

Video not retained as evidence or for a policing purpose are automatically deleted within 31 days.