POLICE bodycams would pay for themselves in just a couple of years, according to Chief Constable Sir Stephen House.

Currently only officers in north-east Scotland wear body-mounted CCTV systems, and the force's main civilian watchdog has called for a public debate before they are rolled out nationwide.

But Sir Stephen has stressed he believes the cameras - which would cost about £5 million - could bring major savings to the justice system, not least by providing images that could lead to early pleas in prosecutions.

Appearing to refer to controversy over armed policing practices, he warned that what was acceptable in the old Grampian force area might not go down well elsewhere in the country.

He said: "The Scottish Police Authority [SPA], I think quite rightly, take a view there has to be a public debate on this because, as I've learned to my cost in recent months, doing ­something in one part of the country for five or seven years and then announcing it across the rest of the country doesn't always work as seamlessly as you would like, and I wouldn't want to do the same thing with body cameras.

"There are questions around privacy and there are questions around data protection that have to be answered."

Sir Stephen was speaking at a conference on domestic abuse in Edinburgh.

Mhairi McGowan, of the Assist scheme to help abuse victims, said human rights objections to the cameras should be overcome.

"I think they could be very helpful in dealing with domestic abuse cases. How many times have police reported to the courts that the home - the crime scene - was in disarray. Imagine if they had video? Or images of the victim?

"I think this would help get early pleas and I think the quicker such cases are dealt with the better."

Vic Emery, chairman of the SPA, has said a decision about the use of bodycams should not be left to the police alone.