WEST Yorkshire Police has moved to allay fears that sensitive footage taken from body cameras worn by its officers could have been downloaded by third parties.

The force said it had taken part in a nationwide trial of three different camera suppliers, one of which used equipment from the US firm Taser, which is reported to upload videos automatically to an external commercial computer server.

Shadow policing minister Jack Dromey expressed concerns that the confidential nature of the information may have been breached, calling on the Home Secretary, Theresa May, to make a statement to parliament to reassure the public that the information was stored safely.

Assistant chief constable of West Yorkshire Police Andy Battle said the force was in the process of ensuring any data captured by cameras worn by its officers and uploaded to storage provided by Taser was removed from the company's databases.

"West Yorkshire Police took part in a nationwide study of body-worn cameras with Cambridge University that has now finished," he said.

"This research phase involved the use of three different camera suppliers that were approved and accredited by the Home Office and adhered to UK data and privacy laws.

"Body-worn cameras have shown to have significant benefits for both victims and witnesses of crime, and we are currently buying them for the entire organisation so that they can be used across the whole county, keeping our communities feeling safer.

"As part of the storage arrangement with Taser, it was agreed that any information held on their systems would be deleted upon the selection of a force-wide supplier.

"In addition, this data could only ever be accessed by the force. We are now in the process of ensuring this has been removed from their databases.

"All future data will be stored locally on secure West Yorkshire Police servers."

Mark Burns-Williamson, police and crime commissioner for West Yorkshire, said £2 million had been provided to the force to invest in body cameras for its officers.

"Body-worn cameras will improve policing across the county," he said.

"They provide an 'independent witness' when officers interact with the public, and can provide significant help with evidence gathering, thereby improving the criminal justice system."

Councillor Arshad Hussain, Bradford Council's portfolio holder for Neighbourhoods And Community Safety, added: "It is crucially important that body-worn camera recordings are kept totally secure.

"I understand that West Yorkshire Police are taking steps to ensure this, and would ask for reassurance from them that this is in fact the case."

It is not known how many officers within West Yorkshire used the Taser cameras, but it is understood that four police forces - the Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police, the City of London force, and Staffordshire police - are still using equipment from the company.

Taser has said its cloud servers are more secure for storing data than using internal police computers.