Privacy and BWV

Under data protection legislation, officers must inform people that they’re being filmed and will do so unless the situation means it’s not possible.

Otherwise you’ll know you’re being recorded when the camera has flashing red lights in the centre of it.

Officers don’t have to get your consent to be filmed.

How footage is handled

Footage is recorded onto internal storage inside the camera. The cameras have no ability to delete or edit the footage.

When an officer docks their camera to charge the battery, the footage is automatically uploaded to secure servers.

Recordings that aren’t categorised as required for evidence at court or in other legal proceedings will be automatically deleted within 31 days.

The footage that’s retained as evidence is regularly reviewed in line with guidance from the Information Commissioner.

Footage is only kept as evidence, for disclosure, or for other legitimate policing purposes according to the Management of Police Information. It is not kept for intelligence.

Access to footage

The force are the data controllers of footage and as such ‘own’ it.

As with any police service, footage recorded and held on Met systems means we are the Data Controller of that footage and as such we are responsible for how we process and share it.

Digital/recorded material such as Body Worn Video, photographs, CCTV or interview tapes count as ‘police information'. You are entitled to request access to only your personal data contained within the police information where you can be identified, under Data Protection law (DPA 2018), by making a Right to Access Request (also known as a Subject Access Request). However, we reserve the right to apply the relevant exemptions set out by the DPA 2018 to the release of the personal data if the circumstances are required.

If you would like to request digital police information held for a third party, you will need to request this from the commander of the borough (at the local police station) where the incident occurred. Please note, the release of the material is at the discretion of the commander.

Contact us to submit an application for third party information.

Community Scrutiny

Scrutiny from communities is essential to the success of policing in London. As part of the Met’s commitment to increase accountability to the public and to improve the quality of its encounters, the information associated with your stop and search or police encounter (including, where applicable, body worn video footage) may be subject to review by independent public reference groups. You can find out more about this or offer feedback.