In addition to the Duisburg Public Order Office (Duisburg tests body cams – NetCo Professional Services GmbH), the city of Bonn is also already using body cams. Sascha Hessenbruch, Head of Administrative Offences and Municipal Public Order Services for the City of Bonn, spoke with NetCo about the use of cameras by Bonn’s municipal public order services and the de-escalating effect of a body cam with a front display. ## Mr Hessenbruch, you are in charge of the “body cam” project for the municipal public order services in Bonn. How long have the cameras been in use?
Here in Bonn, we have been using a total of 40 body cameras since the beginning of June 2022. By council resolution, we are obliged to evaluate their use after one year, i.e. in June 2023. ## Why did you decide to use body cameras? Our council decision in 2020 already stipulated that body cameras should be purchased to protect our emergency services. At that time, there was still no legal basis for using body cameras in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was merely part of the political discussion. So we were already in the early stages of planning in Bonn. The legal amendment to the Public Order Act did not come into force until summer 2021. We then implemented the decision as quickly as possible within the procurement process. ## How does the front display in particular help your emergency services? We have actually noticed a de-escalating effect. Not everyone agrees that the front display actually has this effect, but this is how we perceive it: When the front display is switched on, the camera is not yet recording, but is only in operating mode. In this mode, it really helps to de-escalate situations when the other person sees themselves on the display. So it de-escalates the situation as a whole, especially the behaviour of the other person.
So you only rarely need to use the body cam to record? Exactly, it’s only happened very rarely so far. We’ve had maybe two or three cases where the body cam actually recorded the situation, but it can’t have been much more than that. In most cases, it’s enough to switch on the body cam front display.
## How are your officers responding to the body cam? Better and better, but that’s a process with anything new.
We use the body cams primarily in two areas: firstly, our patrol service (city public order service) and secondly, the GABI station, which we operate together with the police. At the GABI station, the body cam was initially used a little more than in the city public order service because the emergency services there are also confronted with other situations. However, the body cam is now used very actively by everyone, and most have now completed their training. Our body cams are not personalised; instead, we have them in a pool. Of course, we have to make adjustments from time to time to make the body cams as easy to use as possible for our colleagues. The more complicated it is, the more often the body cam is simply left behind and not used. That’s why we’ve reworked the handling and wearing comfort – keyword: mounts – and now it works well. ## How are the people of Bonn reacting to the body cams and the front display? To be honest, they’re not reacting at all. We were very open about our plans to purchase body cameras and provided extensive information. The body cameras have been in use since our press conference on 3 June this year. The local newspapers – Lokalzeit, WDR, the radio – were here with us, accompanied our emergency services, gathered information and in turn informed their readers, viewers and listeners. Since then, there has been virtually no reaction from the public. Occasionally, people have said, “Yes, it’s a good thing that you’re using body cameras,” but I haven’t heard any negative reactions. After all, the aim is to document certain operational situations in order to protect emergency services personnel. Many have realised that these operational situations do indeed exist and that employees must be protected accordingly. ## Many people have data protection concerns. Was that also the case for you before you purchased the bodycams? No, data protection was not a major issue for us. We are often confronted with data protection issues being brought to our attention from outside, but this has not yet happened with body cameras. The issue of data protection is much less of a concern for a regulatory authority – at least in North Rhine-Westphalia – because, ultimately, there is also a clear legal basis for it. The legal framework is enshrined in law enforcement and police legislation, which means that we have less to worry about than, for example, the KVB or other private companies. And that’s why no one questions it. Internally, we have of course considered data protection issues: Who can view and edit recordings? Could recording certain things have consequences under labour law? However, the purpose of a body cam recording – namely a regulatory purpose – is very clearly defined, so data protection is not an issue here either. We have a clear authorisation concept for all questions and our software system is also data protection-compliant. Thank you very much for the interview, Mr Hessenbruch! ## About the person: Sascha Hessenbruch is head of the department for general administrative offences, traffic offences, city public order services and the Joint Contact Point Bonn City Centre (GABI station – public order partnership between the state police and the public order office) at the City of Bonn. This makes him the contact person for all matters relating to body cams. At the next NetCo Body Cam Conference on 14 June 2023 in Cologne (2nd Body Cam Conference – Secure your tickets for the next conference now (netco.de)), he will give a presentation on the body cam evaluation of the first year at the Bonn Municipal Public Order Service.