Dunedin parking officers are trialling a body camera because of ongoing concerns about abuse and violence from the public.
The Dunedin City Council began trialling the camera, which holds eight hours of footage, yesterday.
Council group manager customer and regulatory services Adrian Blair said the trial would run for two or three weeks.
A decision would then be made whether to use cameras permanently. The trial comes after a parking officer was assaulted last month.
The officer was shoved by a disgruntled motorist in George St after attempting to issue a ticket to a man for illegally parking a commercial vehicle on a bus stop.
The 30-year-old offender was issued with a pre-charge warning by police.
Last year, there were four assaults on parking officers plus 15 instances of verbal abuse or threatening behaviour.
There had been five incidents this year in addition to last month's assault.
There was no single incident which led to the trial, rather an ongoing concern about the safety of officers.
‘‘There's a bit of abuse from time to time,'' Mr Blair said.
‘‘Last year, there was a bit of a spike but it is a concern and that's why we want to trial these cameras and see if they are a deterrent.''
The cameras, which were used by Christchurch City Council officers and had been trialled recently by the Wellington City Council, had been effective in reducing threats and violence in other parts of the country, he said.
‘‘The key point of these cameras is to increase safety for our staff,'' he said.
‘‘Our parking officers do a great job of dealing with the public in sometimes difficult circumstances.
‘‘We don't have many situations where people become abusive, but the camera should act as a deterrent in those few cases.
‘‘We think it will be helpful for our staff and members of the public to know any interactions are being recorded.''
The cameras constantly record while being worn, but only store the footage if activated by its wearer.
Once activated they store everything up to 30 seconds before their activation.
This footage is stored on the device and downloaded at the end of the working day.
Mr Blair said the council had not developed any protocols around their use, but members of the public would be aware officers were operating the camera because of a screen on the front of the device showing what was being recorded.
Senior parking officer Colin Hillerby said the council's eight parking officers were keen to take part in the trial.
Officers had not noticed any significant increase in threats or violence but health and safety was a regular concern.‘‘What we are trying to do is safeguard our personnel and this is a another tool and another way to do it,'' he said.
Mr Blair said it would be a month after the trial before a decision was made about buying the cameras for full-time use, he said. The cameras cost about $1300.
The Christchurch City Council last month issued its parking officers with the cameras following 19 instances of abuse or violence since 2015.