Witnesses being asked to 'live-stream crimes' so 'seriousness can be assessed'
Police in the UK are trialling a scheme that will enable members of the public to live stream footage of crimes on their mobile phones in order to assess the seriousness of an incident.
The pilot scheme, which is being trialled by Gwent Police in Wales, sees witnesses using the 999Eye app to stream footage directly to the force control room.
It is hoped that the new scheme will help to streamline police resources after recent government statistics revealed that police response times to emergency calls have increased by more than 50 per cent since 2011.
“In addition to transforming the way 999 calls are dealt with, 999eye will also provide crucial evidence to support ongoing investigations, bringing significant benefits to officers, 999 callers and members of the public,” Gwent Police Superintendent Ian Robert said.
The scheme is a marked contrast to recent guidance issued by the National Police Chiefs’ Council telling people to “Run, Hide, Tell” in the event of a firearms or weapons attack.
“The decision to deploy 999eye is only made by our Force Control Room,” Supt Roberts added.
“It is being piloted to evaluate its value in assessing incidents and to deploy appropriate resources. Gwent Police fully endorses the Run, Hide, Tell advice in the event of a suspected terrorist incident.”
“Our first consideration in deciding whether or not to deploy 999eye during this pilot will be for the safety of the caller.”
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The scheme has also been criticised by former Scotland Yard detective David Videcette, who branded it “confusing”.
“It does run at odds with the Government’s own guidance and I think people are confused about what they should do,” he told The Sun.
“What we must remember is that members of the public are not trained officers and in the early seconds of a terror attack or a serious incident it can be difficult to judge the level of risk.”
