Revolutionising road safety: JMPD traffic officers to wear body cameras

The City of Johannesburg is launching a new initiative to equip Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) officers with body cameras.

The announcement comes half a decade after the launch of the Road Safety Campaign by former mayor Herman Mashaba and public safety MMC Michael Sun at the Grasmere Toll Plaza in 2017.

At the time, Sun highlighted the importance of ensuring the safety of road users. He said the campaign’s focus was to protect all who were navigating the roads.

Body cameras for traffic officers

Fast forward to today, and it is evident that the body camera initiative is viewed as a powerful tool in the battle against corruption.

According to JMPD spokesperson Xolani Fihla, the new body-cam initiative will assist in the City’s fight against crime.

Fihla said the body cameras “will assist in issues around corruption and will also protect officers and protect the public to ensure that we do eradicate corruption in the communities”.

Body camera rollout

The City will conduct a measured roll-out of the body cameras in due course, starting with a pilot stage before full deployment of the cameras will commence.

Back in 2021, deputy transport minister at the time, Dikeledi Magadzi, said the cameras will ensure a record of every interaction between JPMD officers and motorists.

Magadzi said this will cut down the instances of bribery which put law-abiding citizens at risk on the road.

Magadzi added that traffic law enforcement will cease to be a “profit-making mechanism” for unethical and corrupt officers.

READ: Driver’s licence cards: Here’s when the backlog will finally be cleared

US body-cam research

A study carried in the United States in between 2018 and 2022 by the the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) that while wearing body cameras had some benefits, the effectiveness showed mixed results.

The key reasons for officers to wear cameras were to improve officer safety, enhance evidence quality, decrease civilian complaints, and reduce agency liability.

However, the research did not consistently support these intended outcomes. A review of 70 studies found no statistically significant effects of body-worn cameras.

However, experts said the study’s results doesn’t mean the initiative failed.

It simply highlighted the need for further research to determine the value of body-worn cameras and find more effective ways of deploying the technology.