Martel offers a complete line of police body cameras package deals for law enforcement agencies. These body camera systems complete complete with a computer and onsite storage hard drives. The Martel body camera packages come complete without any software fees or storage fees. There are no reoccurring charges for the police departments.
Question: What does a Police Body Camera cost?
Answer: The police body camera cost is $499.99 each officer.
A recent demand from Americans it that their police officers use body cameras. The call for recording every contact with the police is a huge problem. This idea that officers use body-worn cameras is increasing in pressure. This is a complicated mess for law enforcement agencies. Maintaining and storing police body camera video evidence is a daunting task. The cost can almost quickly outweigh the benefits. The next issue is the privacy of recording innocent citizens and children who are not involved in the incident.
Can police body cameras protect our citizens?
The studies have all pointed out that the police body-worn cameras help provide video documentation of how the officers and citizens are treating each other. We had previously had to wait for a study that is done by a third party that is impartial to law enforcement and the community. I would call for a clinical trial with strict standards. To look at the hearsay studies, you might think it's a win-win for every police agency, but you need to look deeper. The reduction of use of force complaints might be lower with body cameras, but that may be because the suspect chose not to fight with an officer wearing a camera, or the officer may have chosen not to be aggressive while wearing it, or they may just be turning their body sideways to not record an incident. A lot of the video seems to be up-close and shaky, making the situation seem more dangerous than it is. The police body cameras don't show at this point an outcome that it is the answer to police misconduct.
How can American Privacy be reconciled with body cameras?
The recent demands of the public, so that police body cameras have an unintended consequence of recording unrelated minors and citizens who end up on the videos. The video footage of police body-worn cameras raises privacy concerns for victims. The police agencies need to write a policy that records suspect violations, but yet protects the minors and victims in our society. The policy should use redaction to blur the faces of the innocent. Also, the policy for body-cameras should be posted online so citizens can Google them. States like Florida have bills now that limit the body worn camera footage released to the public.
Redaction Problems with Police Body Cameras
The major issue right now is the cost of storing the video evidence shot with body cameras. It's so expensive, that about half of the police chiefs say they wouldn't buy body cameras. The second most expensive part of owning a body camera is the cost of redaction or "blurring of the faces of the innocent" for about 1 hour of video, it takes a skilled officer 20 hours to redact.
The Biggest Problem with Police Body Cameras?
The elephant in the room and the biggest problem prohibiting police departments from purchasing body cameras is the cost of Cloud Storage. It's a paradox, as everything on the internet/technology world gets more efficient and cost-effective, the police departments are paying a huge premium for storage. It really calls for a stellar company like Google to ride to the rescue and provide law enforcement with affordable, reliable, safe police body camera cloud storage. This is a job for Google expertise and Cloud Storage experts that could help police departments save and store their videos. Google could be the hero to the entire country by lowering the cost of cloud storage.
Can technology save the police body cameras?
The other time and cost consuming issue was the redaction of the video evidence. Before a police agency buys police body-worn cameras they should do a cost analysis of creating evidence for court. It may be to cost than not having body cameras at all. Cost is the main reason why half of the country's police departments are not purchasing police body cameras. A small police departments, police body-camera policy should limit redaction's to a very small part. The cost of redactions should be included in the cost of cloud storage and maintaining and repairing the body camera program.
Does buying law enforcement body cameras make us all Safer?
If most police departments adopt body cameras, it probably won't make us safer. It will give us more video footage to see if everyone's actions are correct. This question needs a third party clinical study by a non-profit agency to see if this will help our country or hurt it. We are not quite sure the effect on police officers, it may make them timid and refuse to respond to the communities need for instant help. The other effect may be that your candidates for police departments may choose another field with less supervision and restrictions. Remember officer are highly trained professionals, and now they have to wear a camera that oftentimes feels like a baby sitter for them.
Are there limitations of the body cameras
There are a couple of the huge limitations of the body cameras systems. The first is the battery and how long they can record, both are limited and can't handle an entire shift. The second problem is, all the officer's video is up close and looks like the Blair Witch Horror movie. This often gives the jury the false impression that the situation has more anxiety and stress than it really does. How can shaky out of scene video footage favor the police agency when shown in a court? The police dash cam in-car video cameras give us all a wider field of view of an incident, thereby allowing us to see the entire situation.
In the future will there be more body cameras?
There may be a demand for more body cameras, but there sure isn't the funding or will to put more cameras on the street. The technology is getting better, but the cost of cloud storage has skyrocketed for police body worn programs. A police department's budget would be used to purchase police car cameras.
6 Excellent reasons officers should use in-car cameras & with body-worn cameras
Recording evidence up close and wide-angle gives the entire complexity of a crime scene.
If you have been watching the news lately, you will see both sides of the body cameras argument. Some are for it, and others are against officers wearing body-worn camera recorders. It may be a part of the everyday officer's duty in the future. Police agencies all over the country are trying to purchase body cameras with new video technologies inside them, but it's very confusing.
The police in-car camera and body-worn cameras are excellent when used as a force multiplier together. The up-close and wide views provided by the police dash camera can give a jury the entire scene, and the body-camera can give them the up-close view of the evidence. Most of the new body cameras come with a feature to shoot a still photo of the crime scene.
I will outline 6 Superior reasons for teaming together a combination of the two police cameras.
1. The body cameras in the police in-car environment
When you are moving into the police car, it's different. When you are driving or turning to look at your in-car computer, or sitting sideways in the seat, your body-camera isn't recording much except the dash of your cruiser. Move your body in any direction and you will miss the accident or crime in front of you.
2 Body cameras don't line up a perfect shot all the time
Strapping a body camera onto an officer's irregular body can be quite a challenge. All officers come in different sizes and shapes. The officer is not always facing directly in front so the camera is not recording what is happening during the incident. If you are wearing a camera body on your head or uniform, it won't be able to record unless you are looking in the exact direction, and even then you may record the torso down or get a shot of the ceiling. The body camera definitely won't record what's behind the officer or to the side. Getting the wider field of view recorded is the job of the police in-car video camera systems. It will give the officer a much clearer picture of the crime situation happening outside the officers' awareness. This is where the Police in-car cameras can help with the body-camera. Recording using a body-worn camera on the dash instead of an in-car video system gives you a better recording, but won't give you a lot of views captured from inside and outside of the police car. Getting a body camera off the dash in a critical stressful situation is not going to work. The officer is going to forget to hit the record button and won't have time to take it off amount and place it on the body in the correct position. Transferring it from the dash to the body is a losing proposition. The body-camera is made to be worn at all times and does this with efficiency.
3. The police in-car video camera cannot be worn on the officer's person
The assistance of having video is that recorded evidence gives you a clear view of the crime as it is happening. Most of the crime or incidents will happen in front of the police car since this is the way most departments convey their officers from call to call. We don't walk our police officers or bicycle them to a crime, call, we go by car and that is why the in-car camera system is superior to the body-camera.
4. Pre-alarm Recording aka (pre-event Recording)
The in-car police dash camera systems are recording 1 minute all the time, and do not have any limitation in performing their recording duties. They never need to be recharged or docked and often can record for months on end without downloading.
5. In-car video camera system and the body-camera just makes sense
When you are recording crime scenes or traffic incidents like arrests, there are often many sides to the story. So the body worn and in-car video plays a key role in deciding who goes to jail, and who is innocent. False accusations against a peace officer are no laughing matter. Often it can impact the career advancement of an officer up the administrative ladder. The in-car camera system can, along with the body-camera alleviate the false claims. In the perfect world, getting the police dash in-car video recording point of view is optimal.
6. Future Technologies of the in-car video camera combined with body-camera is looking bright
If your police agency is using both the car camera and the body-camera, it will be hard for a criminal to hide. This 2 punch knock-out team can save police departments huge amounts of money and time fighting false accusations. The 2 points of view will undoubtedly make police cameras the must-have for every police agencies evidence locker.
For some years now I have been hearing that police body worn cameras are going to save the reputations of police officers around the country. Since then the results are starting to appear about how the public receives the BWC videos.
As a police chief, you being sold an idea that the body cameras are a cure all, but oftentimes the video is being used against you in court.
A Police Body Camera or (PBC) is also known as a Body Worn Video Camera System (BWV).
The body camera recording devices are usually a small video recording system that is used exclusively by police departments. The police body cameras record evidence in the form of answering statements and crime incidents. Today Police Body Cameras are contributing to citizens having greater confidence in their law enforcement agencies.
The latest technological advance in the body-worn cameras has to do with the size and placement on the officer's body.
The units are getting smaller and more capable of handling longer recording times in the field. The body-cameras is a first-person shooter point of view video recording device that often records a very close up video of suspects.
