Hong Kong pan-democrats raise privacy concerns as police plan body-worn cameras for all frontline officers by 2021

Pan-democrat lawmakers have raised concerns about citizens’ privacy in light of plans to provide every frontline police officer with a camera by 2021 to “enhance the handling of confrontations” and public protests.

At the Legislative Council’s debate on the issue on Friday morning, Undersecretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu, who is tipped to take over as security minister in July, said the force had conducted two field trials on “body-worn video cameras” – recording devices which can be attached to officers’ uniforms – since 2013.

The cameras were used in “confrontational scenarios”. From 2013 to March this year, police recorded a total of 724 pieces of footage during 493 incidents, of which 172 were used in investigations or submitted as evidence.

Lee said that for about 80 to 90 per cent of the recordings, the use of the camera had helped to de-escalate situations and had “stopped the subjects from overreacting”.

In cases involving assaults on officers or wilful obstruction of officers in the due execution of their duties, relevant footage also served as important evidence for convictions, he added.