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The Metropolitan Police in London have announced a £1.6 million trial in which officers will be given cameras to wear as they carry out their daily duties.
Scotland Yard said it hoped police wearing cameras to record what happens as they carry out their duties will help restore faith in the force.
The announcement follows an inquest jury’s verdict that Mark Duggan was lawfully killed by a police officer named only as V53, after he was stopped by police while travelling in a taxi in north London in 2011.
His shooting and subsequent death sparked the London riots in August 2011 and supporters of his family have reacted angrily to the jury’s verdict that Duggan was lawfully killed, even though it is possible he had thrown away the gun an officer claims he was carrying just before he was shot dead.
Senior Met officers say that police cameras will offer an “objective” view of confrontational situations involving the police.
Last week Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell was exonerated after a police officer admitted in court he had lied about overhearing Mr Mitchell calling police officers “plebs” and swearing at them, after they refused to allow him to exit with his bicycle through the front gates of Downing Street.
The Met Police will trial three different makes of camera starting in April.
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