“[The technology] is very, very smart in this weapon,” Chris says. “Not only in its ability to manage the subject effectively, but also in terms of keeping the officer safe.”

Video footage from those cameras greatly helps to provide evidence and is of great use to resolve court cases as well. Police body cameras are not only popular in The USA but are also gaining popularity across various other nations. Australia and Uruguay to the United Kingdom and South Africa are also using them.

Equipping police officers with body cameras could be extremely expensive. There are lots of other expenses that come with it, such as software upgrades, hardware upgrades, and maintenance.

Aside from documenting encounters with the public, body camera technology also helps officers record what they see at accident and crime scenes. Footage captured by police body cameras can also be used as evidence in various cases when necessary.

New Zealand has been debating the issue of BWC for more than five years. In September, Tania Kura said any plans to use them in New Zealand was being considered separately to the Taser upgrade.

“The one I like most is you’ve got a 13-metre range, whereas the old ones were only 7 metres. This gives the officer more time to use communication to de-escalate and it keeps them safer.”

All eyes are on Police’s new Taser 10s – from the officers who can’t wait to get their hands on them to those waiting to see what difference they will make. CARLA AMOS reports.

“Every 1/100th of a second, polarity in each probe changes between negative and positive until it works out the best pathway for the energy to follow [to achieve NMI]. There is no cumulative effect from putting more than two probes into a person. Also, the T10 has incredibly low amperage… less than a Christmas tree light bulb.

“I’m definitely a lot more confident [using the T10] purely because of the distance you can get between yourself and the offender now. The new probes are also longer and penetrate a lot more material than the X2s and its 10 shots makes a huge difference,” says Jax.

“In the background, we can do audits a lot quicker and, at any point in time, we can see a live update on where all the Tasers 10s are. Every time someone signs in, they'll scan [a T10] with their Police phone, and that assigns it to them. Then they unassign the Taser at the end of their shift.”

The rollout will be over five years so that it aligns with budgets, ensures delivery of stock as needed and so the Taser 10 (T10) five-year warranties are staggered. Southern kicked things off, transitioning from Axon’s X2 to the T10 earlier this year and Tasman is due to finish its switchover any day. Canterbury’s transition is set to start from August. The last districts to convert to the T10s will be those in Tāmaki Makaurau in late 2027.

She says one of the key things about the training is that it’s “out of cycle”. “So when a staff member’s annual certification comes up for renewal, that just clicks over onto the new technology. Therefore we're not creating a spike [in recertification].”

Some people might not express themselves more openly around the camera. For example, a person might get nervous and started mumbling and provides the false information.

Cops love a new piece of kit so there’s plenty of buzz around Police’s rollout of the new Axon Taser 10 – but some officers will have to contain that excitement for a while yet.

These camera provides constant surveillance and enforcing officers to be more careful with their behavior. These small devices provide a lens to law enforcement to build trust and transparency. Body cameras greatly helps to reduce police abuses as they could be easily accused of it.

Citizens who know they are being filmed are less likely to act aggressively as well.  It surely helps to improve the officer’s behavior in public interactions as the actions of officers is a matter of public record.

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Mandi says that it is too early to understand whether there will be an increase in Taser use with the T10. “To date, there has been 22 ‘shows’ and only three ‘discharges’, which aligns to our standard Taser use data.”

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Many police departments started using body-worn cameras several years ago, in the late 1990s. At that time cameras were heavy and bulky and are not easy to carry around.

People who may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol may respond differently/harshly to being filmed by a police officer. According to a study, assaults on police officers were increased by 14% when they wore body cameras. There are also possible health and safety issues associated with the use of body cameras electric shock, or burns from faulty devices.

They do not have good recording functionality as compared to today’s cameras. Today’s cameras are very much portable, affordable, and can record HD video. They also have night vision and infrared capabilities.

Deputy Commissioner Tania Kura addressed the lack of onboard cameras on the T10s last year, acknowledging “most other jurisdictions rely on body-worn cameras to record Taser use”.

Average police body cameras cost somewhere between $400 to $600 each. Storing recorded data is quite costly. Especially smaller departments with smaller budgets have suspended body-worn camera programs because of the rising costs of the cameras, maintenance, and data storage.

New Zealand’s Southern district has been operating its X2 fleet without cameras since November due to low integrated-camera battery stock. They were desperately needed elsewhere, Mandi says, and the Southern officers would have soon been using the camera-free T10 anyway. Before that call was made, Police engaged with the Independent Police Conduct Authority, which uses the footage for its investigations as well as the Taser metadata and officers’ tactical options reports (TORs).

The T10 has upgraded technology, called a spread optimiser, which allows it to safely choose between the most effective two, three or four probes to attain the most effective NMI.

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Some people don’t feel comfortable around cameras and it is a psychological fact that not everyone is comfortable around everything. During an investigation, the understanding that an interview is recording could stop some people from interacting with the officer.

Dunedin dog section supervisor Sergeant Mike Calvert, who was an area lead in Southern’s 11-week switchover, says the T10 has many advantages over the X2.

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The body-worn cameras have been incredibly useful in accurately preserving evidence and also helps in the court’s proceeding.

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Chris Brand says the shift away from Taser cameras to body-worn cameras (BWC) was driven by its customers, who sought to be more accountable and transparent in all their work. “Body-worn supplies officers with more capabilities for capturing evidence than just the stuff associated around use of force.”

The first trigger pull discharges a probe with no electrical output but every subsequent probe can work to achieve neuro muscular incapacitation (NMI) – or contraction of a muscle group.

Mike says the T10 has a sturdier feel and the fact it has no camera means “you can actually hold it properly with two hands, which gives you a better stance to deploy it more accurately”. He also likes that the T10 can fire 10 individually targeted probes. “If you go bang, bang and there’s no reaction, you’ve got up to 10 shots to hit the right area.”

The T10 batteries last about 30 days and their firmware is updated automatically when the battery is docked. If a T10 is discharged, the battery must be docked to retrieve all its metadata.

the facts, signs or objects that make you believe that something is true. In general English, evidence is always uncountable.

By visualizing the process of events that occurred, more learning opportunities can help officers to do better in the future. It helps officers learn from each other and is cost-effective as well.

Police Association president Chris Cahill says the organisation generally supports BWC. “They offer a much more compete record of what has occurred, and it is valuable for everyone to understand a situation in its entirety.”

Body-worn cameras provide officers with a reliable and compact tool to systematically and automatically record their field observations and encounters.

Traditionally, the evidence is collected and stored physically in a secure location/shelf with a label/tag. The primary issue with police body cameras is how to store all the data safely.

Axon Australia and New Zealand director of Taser strategic sales Chris Brand says the T10 was developed to fire subsequent probes because “we're looking for whatever is needed to see behavioural change in the subject”.

Nothing is better than real-life footage from your jurisdiction when it comes to on-the-job training. Police officers need time to train and improve just like any other personnel.

Video evidence reduces a lot of the uncertainty because the in-charge officer may not provide all of the detail needed to interpret or visualize the data of the case/scenario. The footage hence aids in writing accurate, detailed reports.

Generally, the public is in favor of the idea of using police body cameras as it ensures more accountability to the public as well as to the officers. The use of police body cameras delivers some remarkable benefits for law enforcement agencies however, there are some drawbacks such as privacy and its upfront cost.

People will be less likely to come forward to share information if they know their conversation is going to be recorded. Some departments allow their officers to turn off their cameras during sensitive moments, which might lead to the loss of some significant information/evidence.

Normally, people tend to behave better when they know they’re being watched. According to a study, the interactions between the public and law enforcement officials typically become more civilized after the use of police body cameras.

While the human eye can’t pick every detail but these cameras can help paint a much clearer picture of what happened in an incident.

Southern’s Constable Desiree Hoera says the Taser 10 give users more time to think and make better decisions, increasing safety for both officers and offenders. Photo: STUFF

Cameras happen to be a great tool of evidence, helping protect the public against police misconduct, and at the same time helps protect police against false accusations of abuse.

“The fact is [the T10] doesn't have an integrated camera,” Mandi says. “If it did have an integrated camera, we would have replaced with same-same.”

Police body cameras are wearable cameras used by the police officer to record interactions between the officer and the public. They are usually worn on the chest part or sometimes on the head/helmet as well.

Mandi Carmine, who is the project manager working within Operational Capability to deliver the $30 million Taser replacement project, is pleased with how the transition training has gone so far.

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Recording police encounters with the public could lead to the public exposure of private matters. It’s a matter of public privacy. The camera will pick up the activities of everyone in the scene. Sometimes police officers are interacting with the individual at an inappropriate time.

A certain number of X2 Tasers will be kept in each transitioned district to cover recruits coming in and officers who transfer from a “non-T10-transitioned” district. “They'll use an X2 until transition training is available to them through a catch-up day,” Mandi says. “These will be held pretty much until the whole country is switched over.”

Police body cameras provide visual and audio evidence that can independently verify events. One small device can create a strong piece of evidence that showcases the interactions between the officer and the public, holding everyone accountable for their actions.

Video requires further investment in either storage hardware or cloud-based storage systems. And the safety of digital data doesn’t come with little expense. There are some legal concerns about the authenticity of some evidence because the data can be easily altered or misplaced.

Nowadays, most police departments around the world are welcoming the use of a police body camera when engaging with their community.