Police in the UK received 32,370 pieces of dashcam footage of alleged driving offences in 2019, according to a Freedom of Information request made by the Royal Automobile Club.
At a rate of nearly 90 clips a day, that’s more than twice as many as they received in 2018. And the police are making use of that wealth of information, with about 25% of the clips sent in leading to a prosecution, according to AutoExpress.
It comes as no surprise that London’s Metropolitan police received the most clips in 2019, with nearby Surrey coming in second. Although no other police department neared London’s roughly 8,000 pieces of footage, a few other cities’ police departments received around 3,000 clips that year.
Indeed, it’s quite easy to upload footage to the police. Nextbase runs an online portal where drivers can upload dashcam footage to 33 police departments. Simon Williams, an RAC safety spokesperson, called the clips a game-changer.
“As so many drivers and cyclists are now using dash cams and helmet cameras, every road user needs to be very conscious that any of their actions that aren’t in accordance with the law could end up with the police,” said Williams. Indeed, all of their actions are being recorded, illegal or not. As pointed out above, about three-quarters of the footage sent to police are not actioned upon.
The clips certainly make the police’s job easier as with camera footage, no officer needs to have actually witnessed a contravention to prosecute.