Head-mounted cameras on San Jose police

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_california_police_cameras

SAN JOSE, Calif. – San Jose police are testing head-mounted cameras to record interactions with the public.
The test using 18 patrol officers comes as citizens' groups criticize the department for too often using force during arrests.
Officers are to turn on the cameras every time they talk with anyone. They download the recordings after every shift.
The cameras are the size of a Bluetooth cell phone earpieces and attach by a headband above the ear.
San Jose is the first major American city to try the devices, made by Arizona-based Taser International. Taser is paying for the experiment, but the price could be high if San Jose equips all 1,400 officers.
Each kit costs $1,700, plus a $99 per officer monthly fee. That's $4 million department-wide each year.
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Information from: San Jose Mercury News, http://www.sjmercury.com
That price is ridiculous! But wait - its for safety!

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The technology is interesting. Taser makes some really nice products but I think the cost quoted is inflated but at least Taser is "paying" for the test group in San Diego.

I am sure, with simple research, far cheaper alternatives can be found. Essentially these are personal video recorders. The effort should be made to reduce the amount of or the level of intrusiveness of equipment LEO's are already wearing. It may catch on for its benefits. I can't see an officer turning this on if something happens "too fast" so I am sure there will be missed moments but perhaps for most cases it will go alright.

Another area I think public safety should consider something like this is for their handguns. It would help solve A LOT of officer involved shooting or where an officer's gun was used, hell, I think a lot of people could stand to use it: The Burris Shotcam.

http://www.burrisoptics.com/shotcam.html

Interesting, they just need to work on increasing internal memory as well as battery life and reduce the size.

For this Taser cop-cam thing, I wonder who they are going to get to test it out. Perhaps the LEO's with the most complaints?

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tekshogun wrote:

For this Taser cop-cam thing, I wonder who they are going to get to test it out. Perhaps the LEO's with the most complaints?

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No, they'll use rookies who will be given little, if any, instruction on the use of the device. After about amonth or sowhen the rookies have screwed up on the proper usage of the cameras, the police chief will declare it a failure and shitcan the whole idea.

I have no doubt that the above,generally,will happen. Y'all dont truly believe that LEOs want something that's going to make it harder for them to conduct a cover-up for misconduct do you?

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An audio/video device should be mandatory for all LEOs any time they are on duty. After all if they have nothing to hide why should they mind.

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Amen to that.

My city is just now getting around to placing video cameras in some police cars and are outfitting just about the entire fire department fleet. I agree thought, a/v recorders should be standard operating equipment for all LEO's but that will likely not happen anytime soon.

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Jim675 wrote:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_california_police_cameras

SAN JOSE, Calif. – San Jose police are testing head-mounted cameras to record interactions with the public.
The test using 18 patrol officers comes as citizens' groups criticize the department for too often using force during arrests.
Officers are to turn on the cameras every time they talk with anyone. They download the recordings after every shift.
The cameras are the size of a Bluetooth cell phone earpieces and attach by a headband above the ear.
San Jose is the first major American city to try the devices, made by Arizona-based Taser International. Taser is paying for the experiment, but the price could be high if San Jose equips all 1,400 officers.
Each kit costs $1,700, plus a $99 per officer monthly fee. That's $4 million department-wide each year.
___
Information from: San Jose Mercury News, http://www.sjmercury.com]http://www.sjmercury.com]http://www.sjmercury.com[/url]
That price is ridiculous! But wait - its for safety!

Click to expand...

Why the hell is their a subscription fee?? No enforcement issues should be delt with by allowing private corporations to have some feasible control in an operation, no matter how little. I can mount a camera on my hat and D/L everything to my laptop every day for about $300 dollars.

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Jim675 wrote:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_california_police_cameras

SAN JOSE, Calif. – San Jose police are testing head-mounted cameras to record interactions with the public.
The test using 18 patrol officers comes as citizens' groups criticize the department for too often using force during arrests.
Officers are to turn on the cameras every time they talk with anyone. They download the recordings after every shift.
The cameras are the size of a Bluetooth cell phone earpieces and attach by a headband above the ear.
San Jose is the first major American city to try the devices, made by Arizona-based Taser International. Taser is paying for the experiment, but the price could be high if San Jose equips all 1,400 officers.
Each kit costs $1,700, plus a $99 per officer monthly fee. That's $4 million department-wide each year.
___
Information from: San Jose Mercury News, http://www.sjmercury.com]http://www.sjmercury.com]http://www.sjmercury.com[/url]
That price is ridiculous! But wait - its for safety!

Click to expand...

Why the hell is their a subscription fee?? No enforcement issues should be delt with by allowing private corporations to have some feasible control in an operation, no matter how little. I can mount a camera on my hat and D/L everything to my laptop every day for about $300 dollars.

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With out the subscription fees the recordings would have to have advertisements in them.

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Phoenix David wrote:

With out the subscription fees the recordings would have to have advertisements in them.

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I'd donate for an OpenCarry.Org advertisement.:celebrate

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Huck wrote:

Y'all dont truly believe that LEOs want something that's going to make it harder for them to conduct a cover-up for misconduct do you?

Click to expand...

Bingo. Dash cam videos are already a pain for them to 'lose' after committing their crimes. If there is no convenient way to 'lose' incriminating evidence, they won't do it.

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tekshogun wrote:

The technology is interesting. Taser makes some really nice products but I think the cost quoted is inflated but at least Taser is "paying" for the test group in San Diego.

Click to expand...

San Jose.

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N6ATF wrote:

tekshogun wrote:

The technology is interesting. Taser makes some really nice products but I think the cost quoted is inflated but at least Taser is "paying" for the test group in San Diego.

Click to expand...

San Jose.

Click to expand...

Oh yes, my mistake, bit of a different part of the state...

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I wonder how many "issues" and "equipment failures" will occur during contested cases. Just to be safe, there should be some equipment "difficulties" during testing and simple routine actions that go well.

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When I said just to be safe that there should be some "issues" with the equipment during run of the mill events, I only stated that so that the Officers involved with would genuinely contested events would know how to find out the issues "previously unnoticed" that somehow blocked a what could have been a issue for an injured citizen, or one who had been claiming their rights were violated.

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Try the 'EDIT' key

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Perhaps next time.

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We should bells around there necks too so we can hear them sneaking up on us.:uhoh: