ScotRail to provide Motorola Solutions’ VB400 body cameras to all frontline staff

Motorola Solutions has supplied over 1,000 VB400 body cameras to ScotRail, enabling the operator to deploy them across its rail network.

The investment will triple the number of cameras available to staff following ScotRail’s initial deployment, which began in 2017.

David Lister, Director of Safety, Engineering and Sustainability at ScotRail, commented: “The safety of our staff and passengers is our top priority. Where body cameras have been used, we have already seen a positive impact on morale and staff confidence, as well as a decrease in reported incidents, helping to ensure a safer environment on our trains and at our stations.

“We are making body cameras available to all of our front-line staff and any team member who wishes to use one can now do so.”

Motorola Solutions specialises in public safety and enterprise security. It said that the roll-out of body cameras was helping to ensure safer passenger journeys and positive interactions between ScotRail staff and the public, with the cameras acting as a tool for de-escalating potentially challenging situations and providing objective video and audio evidence of incidents.

The VB400 is an easy-to-use device with battery life extending beyond a full shift. It reliably captures high-quality footage which is securely stored and organised with time, date and location details, maintaining the integrity of evidence to support incident investigations.

“The VB400 has been designed with safety and simplicity in mind,” said Fergus Mayne, country manager for U.K. and Ireland at Motorola Solutions. “It works when you need it to and is equipped with features such as a pre-record option, that can capture up to 30 seconds of pre and post footage from the point at which the camera is activated, because when a situation does escalate quickly, staff may not have a chance to hit the record button.”

The body camera roll-out follows the launch of a campaign to combat abusive behaviour on the railways, spearheaded by ScotRail, the Scottish Government and the British Transport Police. The additional trust and transparency body cameras can provide, through an objective record of interactions between staff and the public, supports the campaign’s goal of fostering a safer environment, both for Scotrail staff and the community they serve.

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