Beckles wants Government to clarify position on body cameras

Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les is call­ing on the Gov­ern­ment to clear­ly state its po­si­tion on body-worn cam­eras as Par­lia­ment de­bates leg­is­la­tion that would give po­lice ex­pand­ed search pow­ers dur­ing spe­cial op­er­a­tions.

Con­tribut­ing to de­bate on the Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions Bill, 2026, in the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives yes­ter­day, Beck­les said body cam­eras were es­pe­cial­ly im­por­tant giv­en con­cerns about war­rant­less search­es.

Un­der the pro­posed leg­is­la­tion, po­lice of­fi­cers con­duct­ing a spe­cial op­er­a­tion with­in a closed area would be em­pow­ered to search any place or ve­hi­cle with­out a war­rant if they have rea­son­able sus­pi­cion that an of­fence is be­ing com­mit­ted.