Following the news that the Metropolitan Police has adopted Taser's body-worn cameras, the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has followed suit, ordering 3,148 Axon Body 2 cameras and up to a three-year subscription to Evidence.com evidence management tools to help the force become more accountable and effective in their day-to-day duties.
"Body-worn video has been part of Greater Manchester Police's plans to improve our service to the public for several years, going back to summer 2013," said assistant chief constable Garry Shewan.
"Technologies such as body-worn video will make up part of the policing landscape for many years to come, and this funding will allow Greater Manchester to be at the forefront of the nationwide push towards more accountable and effective police forces."
The Greater Manchester Police will start deploying the technology to its officers in the first quarter of 2016, meaning they will be able to record their attendance at incidents, which they hope will reduce the number of complaints made by the public against police and make victims feel safer.
The data collected from the body-worn cameras will be stored on Evidence.com, Taser's digital evidence management platform that allows organisations to collect, transfer, manage, retrieve and store evidence in real time.
"We are thrilled that both the Greater Manchester Police and the London Metropolitan Police Service have selected our Axon technology platform in the last week," says Rick Smith, founder and CEO of Taser International.
"We're looking forward to supporting both of these agencies in their efforts to bring new and innovative technology to their police force in order to maximize officer safety while bringing a new level of trust and transparency to police work."
The Metropolitan Police announced last week that it would be equipping 22,000 of its police officers with Axon Body 2 cameras in London.
