The Tobacco & Alcohol Control Office (TACO) will equip frontline staff with body-worn video cameras starting tomorrow to assist them in carrying out their duties more effectively and to safeguard the safety of the public and TACO personnel, the Department of Health announced today.

To effectively protect the public from the hazard of second-hand smoke and deter smoking violations, TACO regularly inspects all statutory no smoking areas to enforce the smoking ban.

Starting tomorrow, Tobacco & Alcohol Control Inspectors will wear body cameras while discharging their duties and record on-site situations when necessary. Body cameras will be worn conspicuously by inspectors in uniform and used in an open and transparent manner.

If they encounter unexpected or conflicting incidents and consider it necessary to record the situations, the inspectors will, where reasonably practicable, notify the people concerned of the body camera prior to the commencement of recording in order to safeguard the safety of the public and enforcement officers as well as to collect evidence.

The body camera will display a blinking red light during recording to notify those involved that they are being recorded.

Making reference to the experience of law enforcement departments in the use of body cameras, TACO has formulated clear enforcement guidelines and provided training for frontline staff.

When handling footage, it will ensure compliance with the regulations of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance.

Footage that carries no investigative or evidential value, or constitutes no other legitimate purpose, will be deleted after 31 days from the date it was recorded to ensure that no excessive personal data is retained.