PARKING enforcement officers across the county are to wear body cameras to counter abuse and attacks.

The officers – employed by Herefordshire Council – say they are so used to abuse that putting up with it is part of the job.

But now their bosses have said enough and sanctioned the use of the body worn video.

Parking patrols will go out with the cameras later this month.

Officially, figures show 11 formally recorded incidents of abusive behaviour towards parking officers over the past year which were serious enough to have the council’s health and safety team and senior officers involved.

Unofficially, the officers say verbal and physical abuse is so common that many altercations are not formally recorded and are just taken as part of the job.

All the officers are trained in conflict resolution techniques to try and diffuse aggressive situations.

The body cameras are pitched as extra protection should such situations escalate into verbal and physical attack.

They will record images and sound as evidence for a police report and possible prosecution.

Councillor Paul Rone, cabinet member for roads and transport, said the cameras should prompt those protesting penalty charge notices to moderate their response.

“We understand that receiving a parking ticket is frustrating but we cannot and should not expect civil enforcement officers to be subject to verbal or physical attack when they have a job to do,” said Councillor Paul Rone, cabinet member for roads and transport.

Penalty charge notices issued on-street and off-street are worth around £460,000 a year to the council.

Last month, the Hereford Times reported that the council had signed off on an urgent upgrade of equipment used by its parking officers.

The 16 officers have been working with equipment the council acknowledges as unreliable, very problematic, and often needing to be exchanged over a working day.

An upgrade with contract value of £31,000 - funded through the council’s 2014/15 capital programme - gets the officers 20 new handheld devices and 20 printers to allow for spares.

These new devices will also incorporate a camera so officers can take pictures after issuing a notice.

When the officers upload information at the end of the day the photographs will be allocated to the associated notice.

Previously, the officers have had to use separate cameras to take such pictures and then download them separately for “batching” by a support team.