All four police forces in Wales are to start using dashcam footage submitted by the public to investigate driving offences, following a pilot scheme by North Wales Police. (BBC News)
Operation Snap was launched in north Wales last October, in response to an increase in the amount of video and photographic evidence submitted by people who have witnessed driving offences.
South Wales Police followed suit in April, saying that the initiative would provide a ‘safe alternative way’ to share footage of offences.
Now, according to BBC News, both Gwent and Dyfed-Powys Police are to participate in the operation – which runs in partnership with Go Safe (the Wales Road Safety Casualty Reduction Partnership).
Since October, North Wales Police says it has dealt with 129 cases as a result of footage submitted.
Insp Dave Cust, of North Wales Police Roads Policing Unit, said Operation Snap has saved police about 12 hours’ work per case.
Insp Cust added footage could be used to prove innocence as well as guilt. He told BBC News: “There was a woman who went through a green light and hit a car. Two members of the public said she went through a red light and she was going too fast. The camera proved differently.
"It’s proper, reliable evidence."
Footage has to be unedited and include the whole journey, not just the incident. Members of the public are also told not to post the footage on social media, or to remove it if it has already been posted.
To submit footage, members of the public have to complete a form available on the Go Safe website. Once it has been reviewed, officers update the individual as to what action will be taken.
Thanks, but I wasn’t that bothered really Mark – I was just trying to water down Dave Finney’s ‘demands’ and put that particular point into perspective.
Hugh Jones, Cheshire
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Hugh, if you check GoSafe’s site, you will see that the behaviour of the driver is taken into account.
IIRC all of Dave’s conditions are met in one way or another, (the oath is on the form not at a station or Court in the first instance).
However be aware that most, if not all, DashCams save video in 2 to 5 minute segments so a “continuous” 10 minutes will consist of several contiguous files, but as they are time stamped any gaps will be obvious.
What Dave has missed is that on the form you have to agree that you will attend Court if required to do so – with the relevant penalties for failing to attend.
Another update is that they don’t require that the whole journey is sent, but that it is kept in case it is needed. The reason is that a 3 hour journey (100 Mb per min) = 18GB or 36 to 90 files, which is a lot to upload or send.
Mark, Caerphilly
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Dave’s No 4 ‘ condition’ should be “The accuser must be cautioned that any offences by the accuser MAY be prosecuted ahead of any offences by other citizens”. I would hope that it would be obvious from any footage who is the most serious offender. The idea is to encourage witnesses to come forward, not put them off!
Hugh Jones, Cheshire
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Previously on here I proposed the following as a minimum standard before any prosecution:
1) The video evidence must include at least 10 minutes of continuous footage prior to the incident.
2) The accuser must certify under oath that they were the driver.
3) The accuser must certify under oath that the Video footage is entirely original (no editing whatsoever).
4) The accuser must be cautioned that any offences by the accuser will be prosecuted ahead of any offences by other citizens.
By stating: “Footage has to be unedited and include the whole journey…”, it seems that some of my suggestions are now being taken up.
Dashcam footage is already improving collision investigation but there will be concerns about the integrity of prosecutions from dashcam footage. These concerns must be addressed but, with the right safeguards, dashcam footage could theoretically lead to an improvement road safety.
dave finney
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If and when other Police forces follow suit, this will be one of the most promising road safety initiatives for a long time.
It’s also, worth looking at the examples on the BBC News link (and You Tube where there are many more) to see what Stats 19 can’t and doesn’t tell us!
Hugh Jones, Cheshire
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