Swiss Federal Railways report fall in assault cases with bodycam use

Bodycams worn by transport police officers were activated 687 times since September 2024. Keystone-SDA

The bodycams used by the transport police in the past year have proved useful as a deterrent in conflict situations and for collecting evidence, the Swiss Federal Railways said on Monday. It has drawn up a positive assessment of the measure.

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The number of assaults on officers has fallen by 11%, said the Federal Railways in a report. It points out that, in nearly half of cases when people were stopped, the mere announcement of the start of recording via a bodycam led to a de-escalation of the situation.

In all, bodycams worn by transport police officers were activated 687 times since September 2024. In 202 cases, the recordings served as evidence and in 485 cases the recordings were interrupted because the situation had de-escalated after the camera was activated.

Bodycams serve to deter potential perpetrators, reduce the escalation of conflicts and, if necessary, to record evidence, said the Federal Railways. Transport officers are required to verbally announce their activation, if the situation permits. The person being controlled can also request that it be turned on. When the device is switched on, three LED lights flash red and an acoustic signal is emitted. The recorded data are saved on the servers of the Federal Railways in Switzerland.

Access to these recordings is restricted to specialised transport police personnel for evidential purposes. It is not possible to edit or delete the recordings manually. After 100 days, the data are automatically deleted, unless the investigating authority requests that they be handed over. Each deletion is documented.

+ Bodycams on Swiss trains: will they keep trouble off the rails?

In view of the positive results, the Federal Railways would like to test the use of bodycams on a voluntary basis for customer assistants as well. For this project, some outstanding legal and data protection issues must first be clarified.

In their report, the Swiss Federal Railways emphasised that they had also taken other measures to increase the security of customers and staff. In particular, the company has increased surveillance on trains after 10 p.m. and staff in contact with customers receive comprehensive de-escalation training. Video surveillance on trains and in stations has also increased.

Translated from Italian with DeepL/gw

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