Privacy Notice – Body worn video
Date of completion of this notice – March 2025
Who we are
The Police Service of Scotland (‘Police Scotland’) is a constabulary established under the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012. Its headquarters are located at Tulliallan Castle, Kincardine, FK10 4BE, United Kingdom, and you can contact our Data Protection Officer by post at this address, by email at: dataprotection@scotland.police.uk, and by telephone on 101.
About this notice
This notice is to advise you (you are also referred to as the data subject) of how your personal data (information) will be dealt with (processed) by Police Scotland using Body Worn Video (BWV) for both law enforcement and non-crime purposes and your rights in relation to that processing.
The Chief Constable of Police Scotland is the controller of your personal information and decides the purposes for which your personal information will be processed. Police Scotland can be contacted by telephoning 101.
Law enforcement purposes are the purposes of the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, including the safeguarding against and the prevention of threats to public security.
The information below provides details of:
- our lawful basis for processing personal information
- the types of information we may process for law enforcement purposes and non-crime purposes
- the categories of individuals affected
- the length of time we will keep the information
- who we may share it with.
Where information has been processed previously for Law Enforcement purposes, any further use will not be incompatible with the original purpose for which the information was processed, and will be authorised by law.
What is personal data?
“Personal data” is information that can identify a living individual, for example your name, date of birth and address. It also includes alleged or actual offending information.
There is also a type of personal data referred to as “sensitive personal data”. This relates to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data, health data, sex life or sexual orientation.
How is my data collected?
BWV is a small camera worn by Police Officers and Police Staff, namely Police Custody and Security Officers (PCSO’s) that is used to collect audio and visual recordings of incidents they attend.
All BWV recordings will be incident specific; cameras will not be used indiscriminately to record all patrols or duties.
Personal data that we may collect via BWV includes photographic, video, and digital imagery, including biometric data, and audio commentary.
Police Scotland will use the minimum amount of personal information necessary to carry out a particular activity. It is recognised that there will be certain sensitive incidents when it might not be appropriate to use BWV.
The duties imposed on Police Scotland by legislation will also be met by verbal notification. Individuals will be informed, at the start of the recording or as soon as practicable that video and audio recording is taking place.
This Notice should also be read in conjunction with the Police Scotland Privacy Notice for Law Enforcement, the Privacy Notice (GDPR) Protection and Wellbeing, and Privacy Notice (GDPR) Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) which can be accessed from the home page of Police Scotland’s website. These are high-level Privacy Notice’s that provide you with further details relating to your data protection rights, should we hold personal data about you now or if we collect your personal data in the future.
Further information on BWV is available on the Police Scotland BWV webpage
What is Police Scotland’s lawful basis for processing personal and sensitive personal data?
The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 states that it is the duty of a constable:
- to prevent and detect crime
- to maintain order
- to protect life and property
- to take such lawful measures, and make such reports to the appropriate prosecutor, as may be needed to bring offenders with all due speed to justice
- where required, to serve and execute a warrant in relation to criminal proceedings and
- to attend court to give evidence.
The Criminal Procedure Scotland Act 1995 places a statutory duty on Police Scotland to reveal relevant evidence to the Crown.
Under Schedule 7 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (the Act) the Chief Constable of Police Scotland is a competent authority, and Part 3 of the Act permits law enforcement processing by competent authorities.
The Police Scotland Appropriate Policy Document for all law enforcement processing is available from the Police Scotland website.
Should general processing include the capture of a special category of personal data, which is defined at Article 9 of UK GDPR as data revealing:
- racial or ethnic origin
- political opinions
- religious or philosophical beliefs
- trade union membership
- genetic data, biometric data
- data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation.
Such general processing will be undertaken in accordance with the condition set out at Article 9(2)(g), substantial public interest on the basis of law, where one of the following conditions from Part 2, Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018 is met:
- prevention/detection of unlawful acts
- protecting the public against dishonesty
- regulatory activity
- safeguarding of children and adults at risk.
Whose personal and sensitive personal data is processed for law enforcement purposes or other Policing purposes?
In order to carry out our law enforcement or other policing functions, we process information relating to a variety of individuals including:
- victims of crime
- witnesses of crime
- People involved in non-criminal Policing incidents
- Suspects
- Accused persons
- Children under the age of 12 who may have caused harm
- Members of the public (including bystanders)
- consultants and other professional experts
- Police Scotland officers and staff.
What personal and sensitive personal data is processed for law enforcement and other policing purposes (covered by UK GDPR) on Body Worn Video?
Types of personal data we process may include information such as;
- personal details such as name and address
- information provided by suspects, victims or witnesses
- sound and visual images captured by officers wearing a BWV camera
- financial details
- intelligence material
- complaint, incident and accident details
- alleged or actual offending information
- records accessed by officers and staff.
Types of sensitive personal data we process may include information such as:
- racial or ethnic origin,
- political opinions,
- religious or philosophical beliefs,
- trade union membership,
- biometric data
- health data,
- sex life or sexual orientation.
How long will Police Scotland retain the personal and sensitive personal data processed for law enforcement and other policing purposes (covered by UK GDPR)?
Personal and sensitive personal data processed for law enforcement purposes and other policing purposes are retained in accordance with the Police Scotland Record Retention SOP.
Who will Police Scotland share the personal and sensitive personal data with?
When necessary or required for law enforcement or UK GDPR purposes:
- Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS)
- Other police forces in the UK including non-Home Office Forces
- Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission
- Police forces out with the UK
- Courts
- Prisons
- Local and central government departments
- Security companies
- Licensing authorities
- Press and the media
- Police Investigations and Review Commissioner
- Other law enforcement and prosecuting authorities
- Legal representatives
- Defence solicitors
- Disclosure Scotland and the Disclosure and Barring Service
- Partner agencies involved in crime and disorder strategies, and public protection
- Private sector organisations working with police in anti-crime strategies
- Voluntary sector organisations
- Emergency services
- Professional advisers
- Financial organisations
- International agencies concerned with the safeguarding of international and domestic national security anywhere in the world
- Third parties involved in investigations relating to the safeguarding of national security
- Data Processors.
In certain circumstances, we will share information, which was initially for a law enforcement purpose with selected third parties for non-law enforcement purposes:
- Insurance companies (for example, where information was initially gathered at the scene of road traffic collision and is subsequently shared to allow the company to identify other drivers for the purposes of an insurance claim)
- Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority
- Schools and other educational establishments.
Police Scotland will utilise redaction tools, which uses a basic form of artificial intelligence (AI) to protect personal and sensitive personal data when required, prior to sharing with any of the above (this use of AI has been through a Data Ethics Triage process and approved for use).
The above list is not exhaustive and may vary on a case-by-case basis. More information on non-law enforcement processing of information can be found in our other Privacy Notices www.scotland.police.uk/access-to-information/data-protection/privacy-notices.
Your Rights
You have certain rights in relation to how we process your personal information. These are listed below.
1. Right of access
You can make what is called a subject access request to us. You are entitled to, amongst ther things, a copy of the information we hold on you, although there are exceptions to this. For further information and details on how to make a subject access request please visit the Police Scotland website at www.scotland.police.uk/access-to-information/data-protection/subject-access-requests.
2. Right to rectification (correction)
We must correct without delay, any personal information we hold on you which is not accurate. If you think anything is wrong, you should contact us by post or email, where possible by completing the form on our website at https://www.scotland.police.uk/access-to-information/data-protection/your-rights telling us what you think is wrong and why. There are exceptions to when we have to correct the information, and you will be advised if we have to apply them. If it is not possible to establish the accuracy of the personal information, we will restrict how we process it, for example restrict who can see your information, or who we disclose it to.
3. Right to erasure or restriction of processing
You have a right to request that we delete your personal information, but this will only be done when we are not legally required to keep it. On occasion it may be more appropriate to restrict how we process it, for example restrict who can see your information, or who we disclose it to. You can find more information on our website at https://www.scotland.police.uk/access-to-information/data-protection/your-rights
For more information about any of these rights, go to www.scotland.police.uk/access-to-information/data-protection/your-rights or email information.assurance@scotland.police.uk.
If we refuse to carry out your request(s) in full under paragraphs 1 to 3 above, you have the right to ask the Information Commissioner to check whether our decision is correct.
If you are unhappy in any way with how we have dealt with your information, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate)
If we process your Biometric Data (information about your physical, biological, physiological, or behavioural characteristics) for example, your fingerprints, photograph of your face or, samples taken from any part of your body and you are unhappy in any way with how we have dealt with your information, you have the right to complain to the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner.
The Scottish Biometrics Commissioner can be contacted at:
Bridgeside House
99 McDonald Road
Edinburgh
EH7 4NS
Contact@biometricscommissioner.scot
Tel: 0131 202 1043
Date of next review of this document – September 2025.
