Body worn video

Police Scotland is issuing their front-line officers with body worn cameras that will be able to capture video and audio footage of an officers’ interactions with the public. This is called Body Worn Video (BWV).

The phased rollout of BWV began on 26 March 2025 and will continue in 2026. 

BWV cameras are visible recording devices worn by police officers and police staff on their uniform.

The device has a 30 second pre-record setting. This means that it will automatically capture 30 seconds of video footage before the device is manually activated. It does not capture audio on those 30 seconds - only visual footage. 

Until it is manually activated, no footage (audio or visual) is saved.     The 30 second pre-recorded footage will continue to record over itself, and not save, until the device is manually activated.

Police officers will need to activate the camera as guided by their Standard Operating Procedure.

It will, where practical, by activated by police officers in advance of arriving at an incident.

BWV will not be used to capture all of an officer’s working day.

BWV won’t routinely be used to formally record witness statements, but it may capture the witness’ initial account of an incident. 

BWV may capture footage which could later be used as evidence. For example, BWV may capture footage of an assault on a police officer, the state of a crime scene or a victim’s initial account of an event.

A victim’s initial account to police, when they arrive at an incident, may be extremely powerful evidence. However, BWV can capture distressing footage or contain sensitive information, and it must be handled sensitively. 

For example, it might not always be appropriate to play the footage to the victim themselves during the course of a trial. 

Where it is deemed essential for a victim to be shown BWV footage, they should be informed in advance of the trial that it will be shown to them. Prosecutors will take a trauma informed approach (more detail on this below). 

If the accused pleads guilty, and there is no trial, the BWV footage may be shown to the Sheriff or Judge to help their decision making.

Once captured, BWV footage will be stored by Police Scotland in line with their Standard Operating Procedure.

BWV will be provided by the police to COPFS digitally, through the Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC). 

Any footage provided to COPFS will be stored securely on DESC and accessed only by those who need to view it for a business reason. 

About our trauma informed approach

The aims and outcomes of a trauma informed justice system for witnesses are:

• recognises impact: understanding that witnesses and members of the work force have been exposed to trauma and that they can be impacted by this in different ways
• minimises harm: the potential for risk of re-traumatisation is understood, identified and avoided where possible
• supports recovery where possible: witnesses experience relationships [with justice agencies] that support their recovery, ability to give best evidence and engagement
• enables effective participation: practices are adapted to the impact of trauma so that witnesses can participate fully and give the best evidence they can
• supports workforce resilience: recognising the impact of working with traumatic material and witnesses affected by trauma and that workers are supported, reducing the impact of vicarious trauma
• trauma-informed leadership and systems: that justice leadership and management of organisations and systems support the first five aims