Body cameras began to be implemented in the uniforms of military police officers in Salvador this Tuesday (7). According to the Public Security Secretariat of Bahia (SSP-BA), in this first stage, 448 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) will be used by agents stationed in three neighborhoods in the capital of Bahia.
According to SSP-BA, the 448 cameras will be distributed to police officers stationed in the neighborhoods of Pirajá, Tancredo Neves and Liberdade. The three locations were established because they are the units with the highest number of cases in the capital of Bahia.
This is just the first phase of implementing PPE. In the next few years, the other hundreds of cameras will be incorporated into the uniforms of the Civil and Technical Police and the Fire Department.
In total, São Bahia already has 1,300 cameras, 200 of which were provided by the State Public Ministry (MP-BA) and leased by the state government. By the end of the year, the company that won the bid is expected to deliver 3,300 devices. [Saiba como os equipamentos serão utilizados ao final da matéria]
The implementation was announced during a press conference with the secretary of SSP-BA, Marcelo Werner, at the Bahia Administrative Center, in the capital of Bahia. The Secretary of Justice and Human Rights, Felipe Freitas, and the Secretary for the Promotion of Racial Equality, Ângela Guimarães, also participated in the press conference.
In December 2023, after several companies were disqualified, the company Advanta Sistema de Telecommunications e Serviços de Informática won the bid to supply the body cameras. The deadline for PPE to be supplied was 60 days after signing the contract.
Despite this, according to SSP-BA, Bahia will be the first state in Brazil to implement body cameras in all security forces.
Use of equipment
Called “bodycams”, the devices are attached to uniforms and film police operations. The installation of equipment in police uniforms was a promise made by former governor Rui Costa, which was not fulfilled during his term.
In the equipment usage guidelines there are two types of image recording:
- Routine Recording – audiovisual recording produced by the camera in a continuous and uninterrupted manner;
- Featured Recording – temporally marks the beginning and end of the record.
According to the SSP, the cameras will add more transparency, quality and security to the work of agents, in addition to qualifying criminal investigations.
Camera recordings will only be authorized by court order, or by reasoned request to the Public Security Secretariat.
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