Consideration of body cams for Police Officers to counter Police brutality

There are considerations for our Police Officers to wear body cams when they go out to the field so that it reduces the number of Police brutality cases after Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka highlighted that he believes that the organisation is heading that way.

While responding to a question from Opposition MP Shalen Kumar on the measures that the Fiji Police Force is implementing to curb Police brutality against suspects, Rabuka says the Police Force has their own internal system to investigate any allegations of brutality.

He says some of the key strategies implemented by the Police Force to address brutality are the restoration of the police blue culture, the use of force policy, training, education and awareness of their officers.

The Prime Minister says in 2019, the Force recorded one case of police brutality, in 2020, there were 26 cases, in 2021, there was one case, 8 cases were recorded in 2022, and 3 cases were recorded this year from January to October.

When asked by Opposition MP Jone Usamate if there is any thought of using body cams, Rabuka says we lack the civic spirit in Fiji, and very few of us would go and assist the police officer in executing an arrest.