Parking wardens and animal control staff at Porirua City Council will now wear body cameras to keep them safe while working.
Wellington parking wardens started using the cameras a year ago. Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
The Wellington City Council started using the cameras a year ago, and Porirua ordered its own six months ago, but they only recently arrived.
Parking and animal control workers could find themselves in dangerous situations, and the body cameras added another safety tool to their belt, Porirua City Council general manager James Jefferson said.
"It's proven throughout the country and I think overseas that it can de-escalate if people know that something's being recorded," he said.
Mr Jefferson said animal control officers were particularly at risk because people were protective over their pets.
"Our staff are decent, hardworking men and women who are just trying to serve this community, making it a better place to live and work in, and they deserve to feel safe while they're doing that."
Staff were still encouraged to remove themselves from threatening situations in the first instance, he said.
"By and large the public are really good but there is the rare occasion where people fire up."
The staff would only turn the cameras on if they felt unsafe, he said, and they would be obliged to let people know when they were doing so.
The only time information from the camera would be given to police, was if there was an incident where charges were laid, Mr Jefferson said.
