Does Anyone Know How These Police Body Cams Work?.....

[global1]

I think the body cams are a great idea for both the people involved in police actions and the police that wear them. I would think we eliminate the "he said - she said" that goes on now as we would have a video playback - BUT - how do these cameras work?

1. Are they on all the time? Does the cop have to turn it on? Could they turn it off at any time? What about times when the cop is on break - eating or taking a rest stop?
2. Do they function in all types of lighting conditions?
3. Do they have unlimited memory - how much video can they capture?
4. Is the video that is captured stored/saved on the device or is it transmitted to another location and saved?
5. Who will have access to this video? Will only the police department have access to the video or will these cameras be managed by a third party that is not affiliated with the police department?
6. How long will this video be stored?
7. Will the video be erased after every shift?

I'm sure that maybe others on DU have other questions or concerns about the function of these cameras but as you can see they might solve some problems - but create others.

So if anyone has a better knowledge of how these will work on a day to day basis - I'd be interested in hearing about it here.

[Scuba]

1. I'm no expert, but ...

1. Battery life issue. Could be on all the time with enough juice.

2. No. In pitch dark they will capture nothing. But a good camera can capture more than the human eye as light conditions deteriorate.

3. See #4.

4. Ideally, the images would be uploaded real-time to multiple storage locations for redundancy.

5. Great question.

6. I would recommend storing it at least until the statute of limitations has expired. For homicide, that's never, so just keep it forever. Disk storage is cheap.

7. See #6.

[lsewpershad]

2. I wonder why

I feel they [cameras] will shut down for a myriad of reasons when the police is beating the shit out of someone ... especially if that person is black or brown.

[Xithras]

3. I've worked with one of the cameras that some departments use.

1) No, they are on when the officer turns them on. They can also be tied to automatic triggers, which activate them when an officer draws a weapon, but those are uncommon. Usually, the officer turns it on and off. Department policy dictates when they can do that. Most departments simply require that the officer keep the camera on whenever they are "on duty", but some only require that they be on when an officer is making contact with someone.

2) Like all CCD's, the quality varies. The cameras are bouncing around and low lighting conditions create issues, so there will be a lot of imperfect videos.

3) Most of the newest ones use microSD cards, and will hold as much video as the card will. A 16gb microSD can hold a full patrols worth of HD video.

4) Stored on the SD. I don't know of any that broadcast the video, as that would KILL the battery.

5) They operate under the same laws as police dashcams. They generally have to be held for a certain amount of time before being deleted, and cannot be deleted if they are admitted as evidence of a crime. Members of the public can also request footage from any camera under various sunshine and FOIA type laws...but legally, the area is a minefield. In most states, camera footage that actually shows an event does not have to be turned over because it is evidence in an investigation. Only a lawyer involved in the case can request it as evidence. Non-criminal footage can be requested by anyone, and departments typically have to turn it over, but courts in some states (Texas, etc) have said that the police departments can keep them secret, and other states (including my own California) require that requestors pay the department for any time they spend locating and retrieving the footage (typically hundreds of dollars). I used to know a guy who requested dashcam footage from an officers car because he didn't like the cop and wanted to prove that he was using his patrol car for personal errands. He requested all available footage from the patrol car covering a several week period, but the department wanted thousands of dollars to complete the request. They said that they'd have to pay an officer to sort through the video to weed out the potential criminal contacts, and he'd have to compensate them for that.

Of course, other departments just hand them over to anyone who asks, so YMMV.

6) Varies by law and department policy. Many states require that videos showing potential criminal contacts be stored for at least the statute of limitations of any crimes involved. Random video of Joe Cop sitting on the roadside with his radar gun typically gets removed fairly quickly, according to whatever policy the department sets.

7) No