Brazil employs over 30,000 body cameras for police officers

A Ministry of Justice and Public Security survey reveals that more than 30,000 body cameras are currently in use by police officers and municipal guards across the country. These devices, worn on the uniforms of security force agents, are utilized to record actions, ensuring the safety of both citizens and the police themselves.

The survey is part of a diagnosis conducted by the ministry in collaboration with universities to assess the current state of body camera use in the country. By August, 26 of the 27 Brazilian states had already begun using or were in the process of adopting this technology. The three states with the most widespread use are São Paulo, Santa Catarina, and Rio de Janeiro.

In November, the ministry is set to release a national guideline for body camera use. This document will outline processes such as recording time, procedures, authorized personnel for accessing the footage, and rules for storing and sharing the recordings.

The guidelines will not be mandatory for states and municipalities, as they will continue to have the autonomy to create their own rules for the use of cameras, but they will serve as a reference for federal forces and for financing the purchase of this equipment with resources from the National Public Security Fund.

The implementation of body cameras in the state of São Paulo, where they were deployed in 18 units to record police actions, has shown positive results in reducing police violence.

In addition to the usage guidelines, the ministry is working on standardization and certification rules for body cameras. Training programs for operating this technology and evaluations of its impact on the country are also in development.

The ministry's focus is on “enhancing the legitimacy and trust in the police force, making it possible for law enforcement to be seen in a different light through improved quality of work,” as Márcio Mattos, the general coordinator for Governance and Management of the Unified Public Security System, emphasizes.

Data Security

The national guideline also addresses the security of image custody to ensure the integrity of the footage and its use as evidence in legal proceedings.

"How can I securely share body camera data with other institutions like the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Judiciary, and defense agencies while ensuring the integrity of the evidence? If the integrity of this evidence is compromised, its value as proof in a court case becomes void," Mattos explains.

Ensuring that the original images are technically preserved is a crucial aspect, as explained by Pedro Saliba, coordinator of Data Privacy Brasil, an organization that has been researching the use of body camera data.

"You have to save these images in such a way that you can technically demonstrate that they have not been edited or tampered with in any way. For this, we need specific technical requirements," he explains.

Preserving the integrity of data involves defining criteria for recording locations and enabling remote control of these videos through systems such as live streaming, the coordinator said.

For example, during Operation Maré in Rio de Janeiro, which began last Monday (Oct. 9), several police officers wore body cameras, and the images were transmitted live to the Integrated Command and Control Center, allowing monitoring by other agents and authorities.

"We have to think about the privacy of police officers too. What parameters will be established to trigger the images remotely? We also wonder how the GPS data are being protected. Because there is potentially a risk. A security incident could, for example, expose the Military Police's intelligence strategy. Or there could be some political persecution of a specific police officer," explains Saliba.

Organizations such as the Sou da Paz Institute are researching the implementation of body cameras in Brazil. For the protection of both police officers' privacy and the integrity of video evidence, it is essential to control who has access to the images. The same principles of tracking apply to bodies within the justice system that can access these images, ensuring accountability and integrity, the institute's executive director, Carolina Ricardo, explains.

"These images are not public. They are, in principle, stored within the Military Police database. Access to them is restricted to authorized entities within the justice system. The same principles of tracking and monitoring apply – determining who used them, who accessed them, and when," she emphasizes.

Citizens' Rights

Additionally, discussions must address the use of recorded images once stored. There is an ongoing debate about whether recorded images can be used in proceedings unrelated to the original recording event, Pedro Saliba pointed out.

He explained that in the United States, there was a case where images captured during a domestic violence incident were used in a drug trafficking case against the victim's brother, raising questions about the boundaries of image use.

Saliba also underscores the need for a discussion regarding the press's access to these images. "If the press seeks access to body camera footage for matters of significant public interest, we must consider the criteria for making these images available. It's equally important to ensure that the footage from these body cameras isn't exploited for sensationalizing violence. We've witnessed numerous instances of violent content on digital platforms, fostering engagement and, most notably, generating financial gains," he added.

Paulo Cruz Terra, a history professor at Fluminense Federal University, investigates how social movements react to the implementation of intelligence technologies in public security, including facial recognition. He emphasizes that throughout history, governments and societies have often harbored the belief that technology can provide solutions to all problems.

"In general, society tends to imbue technology with an almost magical significance, often promoted by public authorities as a panacea for problem-solving," Terra explains.

However, there is always concern about the incorrect use of this technology. "It's important to relate this to the history of the police in our country. It's interesting to see how activists relate, for example, facial recognition technology to the racism present in history," he noted.

Despite the need to discuss rules and procedures to guarantee data security and its correct use, the respondents believe that the cameras are important both to protect citizens from police abuse and to defend the police themselves from false accusations.

At present, the absence of cameras poses the most significant loss to the population. With body cameras, evidence can be produced to verify facts that were previously only backed by the word of the police. These devices serve as electronic witnesses to these events, as explained by Saliba.