During the incident, the arresting officer made an error administering a criminal caution, “causing a colleague to laugh in the background”.
Chief executive of the Police Ombudsman’s Office, Hugh Hume, said: “The video may have been viewed for entertainment and amusement, but the officers who did so showed little regard for the privacy of the man being arrested, nor for the emotional wellbeing of their colleague featured in the video.”
The issue emerged during a separate investigation.
“The responses received from officers, when asked to provide their reasons for accessing the video, suggested an apparent lack of awareness that doing so might constitute a criminal or misconduct offence,” Mr Hume said.
“A number of officers indicated in their responses that as a result of the investigation they had refreshed their knowledge of PSNI guidance regarding body-worn video, which I welcome.”
Mr Hume said it was “imperative” that body-worn footage “should only be accessed for lawful policing purposes”.
“Police use body-worn video to gain first accounts from victims that they meet. They use it to record their interactions with the most vulnerable people in our society.”
