The Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) says it sup­ports the use of body cam­eras, as Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice (DCP) Ju­nior Ben­jamin has con­firmed that steps are now be­ing tak­en to in­tro­duce the tech­nol­o­gy in­to ser­vice.

The de­vel­op­ment comes amid con­tin­ued pub­lic con­cerns over po­lice shoot­ings, ac­count­abil­i­ty, and trust in law en­force­ment.

Speak­ing at a TTPS me­dia brief­ing held at the Po­lice Ad­min­is­tra­tion Build­ing in Port-of-Spain yes­ter­day, Ben­jamin said the pro­cure­ment process for ad­di­tion­al body-worn cam­eras has be­gun.

“Body cam­eras are some­thing that the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice sup­port. Last week, we had a no­tice of in­ter­est placed on the pa­pers, so we are seek­ing to have the first stage of re­al­ly get­ting the pro­cure­ment process and it is our in­ten­tion to see how we can ad­dress that as soon as pos­si­ble,” he said.

When Guardian Me­dia asked for a time­line for the pro­cure­ment process, no re­sponse was pro­vid­ed.

At the start of the year, Ben­jamin said there were 180 us­able body cam­eras with­in the TTPS.

Guardian Me­dia sought an up­dat­ed fig­ure yes­ter­day and was in­formed just about 120 body cams are ac­tive at the mo­ment.