site.btaDemocratic Bulgaria Proposes Bill for Mandatory Body Cameras on Police Officers

Democratic Bulgaria once again submitted an amendment bill to the Ministry of Interior Act, which would oblige police officers to wear body cameras, announced Yes, Bulgaria Co-Chair and Democratic Bulgaria - Continue the Change (CC-DB) MP Ivaylo Mirchev in Parliament on Thursday.

"A young man was killed by police officers in Varna, and we now learn that GERB realized the police should wear body cameras," Mirchev noted. He added that DB proposed a bill, making body cameras mandatory, back in February 2024 and that the bill was stopped by GERB-UDF MP Manoil Manev, Chair of the Internal Security and Public Order Committee. Mirchev stated that the responsibility for police violence is now on GERB.

The bill proposed by DB clearly states that all police officers should wear a body camera which should be turned on at all times, added Mirchev.

“We will propose the bill again and we will probably receive the Parliament’s support. However, it will come once too late, after lives have already been lost,” commented the Yes, Bulgaria Co-Chair.

Mirchev urged GERB-UDF Floor Leader Boyko Borissov to look at the bill and say who is responsible for the police violence now.

In response to the question of whether the body cameras issue is a reason for a vote of no confidence, Mirchev said that it calls for very significant criticism of the Government. The topic can be discussed as one of the arguments for the confidence vote in September the earliest, he stated.