The utility of police body cameras was proven in the Tournai Criminal Court after footage of attempted murder from a body camera was used by criminal prosecutors, RTBF reports. Police have been rolling out the use of the cameras for several years in a bid to improve officer safety and help aid legal prosecutions.
The small cameras, which record interactions between the police and the public, help prosecutors to verify the police’s version of events and shine a light on difficult interactions with suspects.
On 7 August, a bodycam captured an attempted homicide in Mouscron, in the Walloon municipality of Hainaut near the French border. In the footage, a man can be seen attempting to strangle his wife. Despite the recording, the charge of attempted murder is disputed by the suspects' defence lawyer.
Jean, the suspect in the case, is currently being held on remand. He had been in a relationship with victim Amélie for 17 years. The couple have three children. At the start of 2022, the relationship between the couple became turbulent, leading to a separation.
In an incident on 29 March, Jean, drunk, goes to the house of his wife and tries to force entry. Amélie phones the police, where two officers later find the suspect by the door. Jean insults the police officers and threatens violence before he is taken to the police station to sober up.
'Hands around her throat'
A few months later, the couple is said to have patched things up. On the night of 7 August, the couple spent the evening in pubs in the nearby city of Hurlus. When the night is finished, Amélie refuses to let Jean spend the night with her. Jean insists, but Amélie feels in danger and phones the police.
A police patrol happens upon the crime being committed in front of them. The door to Amélie’s home is left ajar. Entering the property, a police officer activates his body camera, and the recording begins.
Following screams from inside the property, officers rush into the home, where the camera captures Jean straddling Amélie, with his hands around her neck. For the prosecutor, the facts are clear and the penalty will be 37 months in prison for attempted homicide and three months for resisting arrest.
Jean’s lawyer, Guillaume Gossieaux, disputes the charge. “He did not implement the means necessary to kill his wife, who was screaming, which proves that she was not strangled and that she was not suffocating,” he said. They also dispute that there was an intent to kill.
Amélie no longer recalls the incident, stating that she was drunk. She is calling for her husband to come out of prison to spend Christmas with his family. “He’s not a bad man, except when he’s been drinking,” she said. A motion for release is requested by the defence.
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A judgement has yet to be delivered, but the incident demonstrates the importance of police body cameras in the eyes of the courts. A final verdict will be announced in January.
Police officers happy with body cameras
Belgian police have praised the use of body cameras not only for recording the facts but also for stopping crimes in their tracks. In one incident, the Brussels-North police zone credits the body cameras for stopping a man from acting aggressively towards police officers, after the suspect was informed that he was currently being recorded.
In November 2021, after just one month of use, the Brussels-Ixelles police zone said that they were happy with the standard use of the cameras, which they say make police interventions “calmer and escalate less.”
