Victorian police officers could soon be wearing video cameras on their uniforms to capture their interactions with the public under a three-month trial.

Victoria Police are considering testing the equipment on officers who work in the Melbourne's southern region, in places like Dandenong, Cranbourne and the Mornington Peninsula.

The assistant secretary of the Police Association Bruce McKenzie has told AM, he is worried the recordings could make people reluctant to give officers information.

"If the public are aware that those conversations with police might be the subject of being recorded, does that mean that in the longer term that trust between the community and police breaks down," he said.

"The public [may] become reluctant to provide information to solve crime, but even become reluctant to have conversations with police officers at all."

The immediate past president of Liberty Victoria, Michael Pearce SC, says the cameras could have benefits but there are also a lot of dangers.

"The dangers are the subsequent misuse of the recordings that are made," he told ABC local radio.

"Posting things on the internet, leaking to news media, people being caught in embarrassing situations. That's the problem."

He says the privacy laws need to be strengthened to allow an individual to sue for a serious invasion of privacy.

"Now I think if we had protections of that kind we could be a little bit more relaxed about this kind of innovation," he said.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Ken Lay has expressed some reservations about them but is willing to give it a try.

"Some of our members are importing their own cameras from the UK, pinning them on their lapel and using them," he told Fairfax radio.

"I can understand parts of the community being concerned about this, so we want to do a piece of work that actually tests whether this technology is good or bad." Listen Duration: 2 minutes 53 seconds 2 m 53 s Listen Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Police union won't wear shirt-cam plan ( Simon Lauder ) Download 1.3 MB

Terry O'Gorman the president of the Australian Council for Civil believes the cameras do have merit.

"Not only is it a protection for citizens against police misbehaviour, it is protection for police against false allegations being made against them," he said.

He is not surprised that police are resisting the idea.

"Unfortunately police unions around the country are neanderthal and backward in their approach to anything that might improve interactions between the police and the public," he said.

"The reality is for a police officer who is doing the right thing, this is a great improvement because it means that the police officer cannot be subject to false allegations by members of the public."