CEBU, Philippines — Mandaue City's traffic arm, the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (TEAM), has purchased body cameras that are dust, water and shockproof that will be used by its traffic enforcers during operation.
The Mandaue City Public Information Office, in its Facebook post, said that these body cameras will be worn by the TEAM traffic enforcers during every operation to record the encounter with the apprehended citizen.
"It has been shown that body-worn cameras may result in better transparency and accountability and thus may improve law enforcement legitimacy. The body-worn cameras may also result in higher rate of citizen compliance during encounters and fewer complaints lodged against law enforcement." the post read.
It added that studies have shown that citizens often change their behavior toward officers when they are informed that the encounter is being recorded.
The video captured by body-worn cameras may help corroborate the facts of the encounter and result in a quicker resolution.
"The City of Mandaue headed by Mayor Jonas C. Cortes is committed to upholding good governance, transparency and accountability in every operation even in these hard times brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic," the post read.
Meanwhile, Cortes has personally received the first batch of brand new six-wheeler multi-purpose Hino dump trucks that the city has purchased and to be distributed to the barangays.
The city purchased 27 multi-purpose trucks for all 27 barangays in the city and these will be delivered by batch.
These vehicles can be used by the barangays for various purposes which may include relief efforts, disaster response, hauling of equipment, garbage disposal, among others.
The city government is in solidarity with the barangays and the barangay captains will make sure to fully support their needs. GAN (FREEMAN)