South Western Railway (SWR) has revealed it will introduce a phased rollout of body-worn cameras in a bid to reduce anti-social behaviour.

The body cameras are being brought into use as a deterrent to cut anti-social behaviour onboard trains and at stations alongside deterring assaults, threats and abuse that the rail operator’s staff experience.

Staff members working out of Fratton depot took part in an initial trial back in June 2021 and the cameras are now being rolled out at Bournemouth, Richmond, Weymouth, Farnham, Woking, Eastleigh, Portsmouth, and Guildford, coming shortly after will be SWR staff working out of Salisbury and Basingstoke.

The cameras will be worn by guards and customer service assistants, including gateline staff, rail community officers, and revenue protection staff.

Utilising current CCTV cameras and the new body-worn cameras will give South Western Railway the opportunity to use both sources of footage, which will provide better quality evidence for prosecutions and court cases.

Christian Neill, SWR’s Customer Experience Director, commented::

“Customer and colleague safety will always be our top priority. We are always looking for ways to help our customers travel with greater confidence and ensure that colleagues feel safer at work.

“These body-worn cameras are designed to do just this, by deterring anti-social behaviour on our services and reducing the number of assaults our colleagues experience at work.

“While we wish that we could prevent every incident, we expect that the new footage will help authorities in any prosecutions by providing good quality evidence.”