Victoria Police has pushed back at suggestions more oversight is needed around officers' use of body-worn cameras, after an audit warned trust in the force would be eroded without closer scrutiny of the footage.
A report by the Victorian Auditor-General Andrew Greaves has revealed that while 83 per cent of the time officers were turning on their cameras when required, more than 16 per cent of police interactions were going unrecorded.
The report also found there was not enough tracking of officers' consistency and compliance in activating the cameras, saying the missing footage could weaken evidence in investigations and prosecutions, reduce transparency in complaint investigations, and lead to "reputational damage to Victoria Police".
Rejecting a recommendation by the Auditor-General to develop a policy to review recording logs, Victoria Police said it was not needed as the report had found "no instances identified of BWC (body worn camera) footage being mishandled".
Lawyer Jeremy King described the response from police to the report as "problematic".
"Police have total control over body-worn camera footage", he said.
"Given that every single police officer has a body-worn camera on them now, it's incredibly important that there is independent oversight of the way that that footage is retained and utilised by Victoria Police."
Police Minister Lisa Neville said she believed there was no malicious intent in Victoria Police's decision, and it was more a case of trying to deal with the huge amount of recordings already in existence – upwards of 2.8 million.
"It's about giving them the flexibility to work out whether it is the most appropriate way to give evidence, there may be other more appropriate evidence that the police have used", she said.
"They haven't ruled this out they're just leaving the door open to be flexible about that".
Dismissing this argument, Mr King also criticised the lack of punishment for officers by Victoria Police should they do the wrong thing.
"[It] doesn't really provide sanctions for police deliberately not turning on their camera or inappropriately turning on their camera or turning off their camera," he said.
"That remains a real live issue."
There are now more than 10,000 body-worn cameras in operation among Victorian officers since the program began in 2018.
Victoria Police said it had "clear guidelines and expectations" regarding when and where the cameras should be activated, as well as "mandatory reporting requirements if a camera is muted or stopped prematurely".
The organisation said all footage was reviewed randomly each month "to ensure recordings have been started and stopped in accordance with protocols".
It also pointed out that it had either accepted or accepted in principle six out of eight recommendations made by the Auditor-General around the capture and management of camera footage, and achieving and tracking the intended benefits.
Speaking after meeting with Chief Commissioner Shane Patton, Premier Daniel Andrews said he would not describe the news of the missed recordings as a "failing", and the cameras made a valuable contribution.
"We've provided the technology for the best of reasons," he said.
"For safety, for confidence, but also to protect our police members".
Police association defends officers
Police Association Victoria head Wayne Gatt said the statistics were "actually really good".
"It's really only about 10 per cent of cases where both officers aren't recording [which] tells us in the overwhelming majority of cases, members are," he said.
He said the unpredictable nature of policing meant sometimes there was no time to think about turning the camera on before dealing with an emergency.
"Police out on the street, when they see something happening [and] suddenly have to rush to action to apprehend an offender, to engage in a full pursuit, to take action to defend themselves or others in the community", he said.
"These are the sorts of circumstances we think will be highlighted."
The Premier also said it was understandable many officers were still adjusting to the devices.
"It only makes sense you don't flick a switch and go from no body-worn cameras to an absolutely perfect outcome," Mr Andrews said.
"I'm sure we'll see improvements and when next these matters are reported on that number will have come down further".
While the police association agreed, it also called for more investment in technology to support the cameras.
Mr Gatt said people did not realise the extra administrative work that was required, and that many believe once a recording is underway "all they'll (officers) need to do is upload that, the court will watch it and the work is done".
"Nothing could be further from the truth," he said.
"Whilst the footage is there and available for our members to rely on, it still requires our members to manually transcribe, redact, edit that footage and for supervisors to come in over the top and audit that footage regularly.
"These sorts of activities are taking officers off the streets, not putting more officers on the streets".
