Criminal Evidence

A police officer asked to view a CCTV recording is not in the same position as a witness asked to identify someone he has seen committing a crime. However, the safeguards which PACE, Code D is designed to put in place are equally important in cases where a police officer is asked to see whether or not he can recognise anyone in a CCTV recording.

Whether or not Code D applies, there must be in place some record which assists in gauging the reliability of the assertion. In the absence of any such check as would be available had a witness described the commission of an offence and recollected his description of the offender, it is important that the police officer’s initial reactions to the recording are set out and available for scrutiny.