THEY are the latest weapon used in the battle against crime and by the end of this year, every frontline police officer in Hampshire will be issued with a body-worn camera as the force becomes one of the first in the country to equip all its staff.

Response and patrol officers along with Police Community Support Officers will be issued with the cameras as part of a £700,000 roll-out of the technology.

Currently 500 officers have been supplied with the cameras but that number will rise to 2,800 over the next year.

The move comes after a string of assaults were reported across the county with officers being injured in the line of duty.

Last year, the force recorded 703 assaults on staff.

Currently the cameras are used to capture video and audio evidence when responding to all types of criminal incidents.

Hampshire Police says the pilot scheme, that has been running since 2013, found that the footage taken by officers helped cases progress through the courts quicker, and helped resolve complaints against staff, while also protecting officers.

Simon Hayes, Police and Crime Commissioner, said that Hampshire Constabulary will now issue one camera per frontline officer and PCSO over the next six months. Plain-clothed police and specialist officers will not be issued with them.

“The importance of technology is that it is enabling police officers to do their job properly, to make them efficient and effective, to show evidence to the courts about what has happened at incidents, and to speed up the justice process,” he said.

The announcement came as the Government’s minister for policing, criminal justice and victims, Mike Penning, visited Winchester for a demonstration of how the cameras work.

He was accompanied by Winchester and Chandler’s Ford MP Steve Brine, Chief Constable Andy Marsh, and Inspector Steve Goodier, lead officer for the force’s body-worn camera project.

Mr Penning said: “Hampshire is leading the country in how we can really use body-worn cameras in other ways.

“They give our officers brilliant security. America is years behind us with this.”

The money to pay for the extra cameras was part-funded from an innovation grant from central Government, matched by the constabulary.