Safety on trains and in stations SBB equips transport police officers throughout Switzerland with bodycams
More safety for passengers and employees? From September, SBB will be introducing bodycams for its transport police officers throughout Switzerland and purchasing 100 cameras.
13.08.2024, 16:30
13.08.2024, 16:39
SDA
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- From September, all SBB transport police officers throughout Switzerland will be equipped with a bodycam.
- They are intended to de-escalate conflicts and thus contribute to the safety of passengers and employees.
- A total of 100 cameras will be procured. According to SBB, each patrol will be equipped with at least one bodycam.
- The transport police are deployed throughout Switzerland with over 200 police officers in public transport areas and on trains.
- According to SBB, the data is normally deleted automatically after one hundred days.
From September, SBB will be introducing so-called bodycams for transport police officers throughout Switzerland. The body-worn video cameras are intended to de-escalate conflicts and contribute to the safety of passengers and employees.
Each patrol will be equipped with at least one bodycam, SBB announced on Tuesday. A total of 100 cameras will be procured. The transport police are deployed throughout Switzerland with over 200 police officers in public transport areas and on trains.
The purchase of the cameras will cost around one hundred thousand francs, as an SBB spokesperson told the Keystone-SDA news agency on request.
According to SBB, the bodycams record wide-angle video images and sound - but not continuously. The recording is triggered by the transport police officers "on an operational basis". They want to announce the activation of the bodycam verbally. When activated, three front lights reportedly flash red and a signal tone sounds. According to SBB, people who are to be checked can also request activation of the bodycam.
All members of the transport police are trained in advance to use the cameras, said the SBB spokesperson.
Images deleted after one hundred days
According to SBB, clear data protection regulations apply. The recorded video data is stored on the railroad company's servers in Switzerland. Only specialists from the transport police have access to the recordings for evidence purposes.
Manual processing or deletion of the recordings is not possible, the press release continued. After one hundred days, the data will be deleted automatically unless an investigating authority orders otherwise. This authority can request the release of data. Every deletion is to be documented.
The use of the cameras is an important step towards modernizing the equipment in the daily presence and intervention service, it said. Bodycams serve to deter potential perpetrators, de-escalate conflicts and record evidence.
SBB: aggression has become rougher
SBB emphasized that the general security situation on trains and in stations is stable throughout Switzerland. However, social developments do not stop at railroad stations and trains, it said. SBB recently noted that verbal aggression and individual incidents against employees and passengers have become more serious.
Several police forces in the cantons already have such bodycams. They were introduced in the city of Zurich in July. In Bern, police officers have been wearing such cameras since 2021.
Lifeguards with bodycams
However, the use of bodycams is not uncontroversial. In Basel, the parliament narrowly rejected a proposal to procure them last November. It was argued that bodycams would suggest a false sense of security because they would not be in permanent use.
Bodycams have long been used abroad, including in the USA. In the Dutch municipality of Terneuzen, lifeguards also wore bodycams at times. The strict measure was intended to prevent harassment of outdoor pool guests by young people.
