Smile: Park City police officers issued body cameras
December 27, 2013, Park City News
Park City police officers are now wearing more than their uniform, badge and gun.
The Police Department recently issued body cameras to officers that allow them to video record situations if needed. The department purchased approximately 25 of the small cameras, about the size of a pager, that are worn on an officer’s shirt at about the middle of the chest. The officers wear the body cameras all the time when they are on duty, but they will only record when an officer starts and stops the camera.
The police say the cameras will be important tools as they gather evidence against a person. If criminal activity is recorded on the camera, the police say, the video will be a key to the case. “It’s invaluable evidence on these cases,” said Phil Kirk, a police captain who was involved in the decisions about the cameras. “It’s the old adage, a picture’s worth 1,000 words.”
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Seattle-based wearable camera maker focusing on prosumer market
December 12, 2013, King 5 News
Steve Ward had wearable cameras in his sights when he was a Seattle police officer on bike patrols in the late 1990s. Back then, he figured body-worn devices could show 100 percent of what a cop deals with on a daily basis, rather than the 5 percent or so that is seen on the dashboard camera videos that have become a staple of evening newscasts. Yet, Ward had to wait for the technology to catch up with his ideas. “Now we have smaller batteries, longer life and smaller image sensors,” he said.
Ward now also has his own six-year-old company, VIEVU, and an initial body-worn camera that’s been successfully marketed to the law enforcement community. That product is now used by 3,000 agencies in 16 countries. Ward’s newest product, the VIEVU2 (VIEVU Squared), is a response to requests he was hearing from a different marketplace as he was selling his first wearable camera.
Liberty Lake City Council, police approve use of body cams
November 23, 2013, The Spokesman-Review
The Liberty Lake Police Department union voted unanimously last week to approve a contract that requires the use of body cameras. The three-year contract also includes annual raises ranging from 2 to 3 percent. The City Council unanimously approved it Tuesday.
Six members of the 10-man department have been wearing body cameras voluntarily for several months. Police Chief Brian Asmus said there were some concerns raised by officers about privacy issues. “The concerns had to do mostly with how to solve public disclosure requests,” he said. “It was more questions than anything since it’s new.”
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Ubiquitous Cameras – The People’s Panopticon
November 16, 2013, The Economist
Steve Ward of VIEVU, a Seattle firm that has been selling wearable cameras to police forces for several years, and now has customers in 16 countries, says the devices can help protect any professional who takes on legal liabilities: repairmen, estate agents, doctors, couriers and more. After all, many firms already record phone calls for similar reasons. The availability of a tamper-proof record often sorts out disputes before they escalate, expensively, into lawsuits. A year-long experiment with the widespread use of wearable cameras by police officers in Rialto, California, saw a spectacular fall in the number of complaints against the police by the public. It also saw less use of force by officers.
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New Eye on Crime
November 15, 2013, World News Group
The traditional police uniform is loaded down with all the gear a law enforcer could need at a moment’s notice: handcuffs, memo book, flashlight, mace, walkie-talkie, an expandable baton. You might not have heard of the newest accessory: a camera. Across the United States, thousands of police officers have begun using body-worn cameras to record everything from traffic stops to foot chases.
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Real-Time Tracking, Bizarre Weapons Displayed at Police Chiefs Conference
October 23, 2013, NBC Philadelphia
Capturing what’s happening now to capture evil-doers quickly was a recurring theme in the flurry of products being shilled to police chiefs from around the world at this week’s International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Philadelphia. Among hundreds of suppliers set up inside the Expo Hall of the Pennsylvania Convention Center, there was plenty of video and surveillance technology to target and track suspects.
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IACP 2013: VIEVU’s LE3 On-Body Camera
October 21, 2013, Police Magazine
Vievu brought its third-generation on-officer video system and a compact “pro” on-body camera for police to the 2013 IACP Conference in Philadelphia. The LE3 records on-body video in either high definition (1280×720) or standard definition (848×480) via a lens offering a 68-degree field of view. It offers four-hour recording time and 16GB of internal storage. It arrives with Vievu’s Veripatrol video management software with Vidlock security that locks access to the camera if the unit is lost or stolen.
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VIEVU’s Wearable Security Camera Launched
October 18, 2013, Rxsat
Security is a prime concern of all establishments, institutions and corporation. Commercial places, banks, public buildings, parks, Ministries, industrial complexes all need security. Vievu wearable security camera offers to work in demanding environments like workplace liability/accountability issues, employee theft, property damage, facilities management, transportation of goods and services, etc.
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VIEVU Squared Body Worn Camera Is A Nifty Little 720p Video Recorder
October 10, 2013, Ubergizmo
Video evidence can be a great thing if you’ve been falsely accused of something. Cop cars have dash cams that document their duties, but most police activity doesn’t happen in front of the dash cam. Sometimes HR representatives might be hit with a false complaint after just a simple employee performance evaluation. In such instances, video evidence would be vital to prove no wrongdoing. That’s where VIEVU Squared comes in. Its a small body worn camera capable of recording 720p HD video for 90 minutes aided by a waterproof high dynamic range microphone, the camera has been developed by a company that’s headed by a 15 year veteran of the Seattle Police Department. Obviously that’s not the only thing the Squared is good for, if you like to always be ready to document something on video, then you should definitely check this body worn camera out.
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Wearable Cameras on the Job, Even if You’re Not a Cop or Surfer
October 09, 2013, BloombergBusinessweek
GoPro cameras have given mountain bikers and surfers a way to record a sick session, but why stop there? In a world where video cameras are becoming cheaper and smaller, there’s no reason to stop collecting footage—ever. At least that’s the pitch from two companies that see potential in tiny cameras clipped to a lapel.
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Vievu²: Wearable Wi-Fi Video For “Prosumers”/Professionals PLUS CEO Interview and IndieGoGo
September 25, 2013, GeekObsessed
Vievu is a leading provider of wearable cameras for police and private security (80 percent market share), used by more than 3000 agencies in 15 countries. With the new Vievu² “PROsumers” gain access to the same military-grade technology high-end security personnel have been using for past six years.
As such, Vievu² delivers “liquid security” in that it can go practically anywhere, making it ideal for combating workplace liability/accountability issues; employee theft and property damage; facilities management, transportation of goods and services, etc.
Watching Them … Watching You … Watching Them
September 20, 2013, The Leader Board
Steve Lovell says that when an HR staffer walks into a potentially difficult meeting with an employee, they should be wearing something extra: a camera.
Lovell is president of Vievu, which sells “wearable cameras” to police departments and security firms throughout the world. Its latest product is a wearable Wi-Fi camera that’s designed to be worn on a belt, lapel, pocket or other places that bulkier cameras won’t fit. The company also says it’s waterproof and bump resistant, should you have need of such features.
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Menlo Park police soon will be armed with video cameras
September 14, 2013, Mercury News
Menlo Park police officers soon will be wearing video cameras on their uniforms to record their contact with citizens, the latest component in the department’s expanding use of surveillance technology. Police Cmdr. Dave Bertini said Friday that video taken with the cameras could be used as evidence of a crime, as well a defense against false complaints of misconduct. “There’s no situation of ‘he said, she said.’ There’s a video of every situation,” Bertini said. “To me, it’s 100 percent risk management.”
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Body cameras change LPD’s face, methods
September 8, 2013, A-J Media
Lubbock police officer K.B. Jennings’ job as part of the motor unit represents a law enforcement tradition more than 100 years old. But for the past six months, Jennings and the other 11 members of his unit have been using something new to do their traditional traffic enforcement duties. They are wearing body cameras, which record each traffic stop. The cameras come with a $900 price tag, but footage captured on the cameras is often invaluable when it comes to proving or disproving a citizen’s complaint against an officer.
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More Eastern Iowa police departments using body cameras
September 5, 2013, The Gazette
When it comes to police work, armchair quarterbacking from the public is common. Iowa City Police Chief Sam Hargadine said his officers are “constantly challenged” by members of the public who disagree with the officer’s actions or professional conduct. In those cases, Hargadine simply says: Let’s go to the video. “We can go back to the video and sit down,” Hargadine said. “This is what happened, is this how you remembered it? Oftentimes, it’s not.”
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Former cop earning plaudits for his wearable camera company
September 4, 2013, KomoNews
Wearable cameras on cops have been a source of controversy. Sometimes police agencies and officers want lawmakers and the public to see what’s really going on, but sometimes they don’t. Steve Ward doesn’t care about reasons why the cameras are worn, just that police wear them. Now he wants to put a similar version into the public’s hands.
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Now you can own those body-worn cameras worn by police
September 2, 2013, GeekWire
For the past six years, Seattle-based Vievu has helped more than 3,000 police agencies around the world with body-worn cameras that record what’s happening on the job. But recently, Vievu founder Steve Ward saw a new business opportunity. Everyone from real estate agents to plumbers to bus drivers began asking Vievu to make cameras specifically for their respective jobs. Suddenly his realized how big his customer base could grow.
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UD Public Safety outfits officers with body-worn cameras
August 28, 2013, Flyer News
As of last semester, every University of Dayton Public Safety officer is equipped with a camera at the beginning of their shift, according to UD Public Safety officials. UD Police Chief Bruce Burt said the pager-sized cameras are attached to officers’ shirts and are utilized to record interactions between police officers and individuals.
Cop cams ordered to help fix NYC stop-and-frisk
August 14, 2013, Associated Press
In the years of debate over New York City’s stop-and-frisk tactic, the idea of putting tiny cameras on police officers to record their interaction with the public was never seriously considered. It came up almost by accident during the month-long civil rights trial over stop and frisk, when the city’s own policing expert raised it during testimony as something other cities use to determine whether a stop was made legally. U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin seized on it. “It would solve a lot of problems,” she said. “Everybody would know exactly what occurred. It would be easy to review it. The officer would be aware he’s on tape.”
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LMDC sees positive effects of officer-worn body cameras
July 11, 2013, WHAS 11 News
They show all and keep everyone honest and officials say they even save taxpayers money. We’re talking about body cameras used by law enforcement. They are relatively new in Kentuckiana, but so far authorities say they are making a big difference. Whether you are patrolling the streets or handling inmates in jail, you never know what is going to happen. “First of all don’t threaten me,” said one Metro Corrections officer as he was booking an inmate. “Well come hit me then. You want some come on and get some,” responded the inmate.
Houlton police now equipped with personal video cameras
June 12, 2013, Bangor Daily News
Thanks to a Homeland Security grant, the Houlton Police Department will now be able to outfit its officers with personal video cameras. According to Houlton Police Chief Butch Asselin, nine Vievu wearable body cameras were purchased with the grant money. The cameras, which cost $800 apiece, are clipped to the front of the officer’s shirt and can be turned on by moving a switch. Each camera can record up to three hours of video. “Much like the video systems inside the cruisers, the Vievu cameras will assist the officers in documenting such matters as traffic stops, accident scenes, domestic violence cases, and interviewing victims [and] witnesses,” Asselin said. “The benefit with the Vievu cameras is that they go where the officer does.”
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Richland Hills police outfitted with body cams
April 30, 2013, CBS Dallas
Just like a badge and a gun, standard equipment for police in Richland Hills now includes a camera. Patrol officers started wearing the body cameras last week, as an extension to cameras already in patrol cars. About the same size as a pager, the black cameras can be clipped on a uniform pocket or lapel. Sliding open a small door on the front reveals a lens and automatically starts recording video and sound. Whenever officers leave the view of their patrol car cameras and audio, the body camera takes over. “If we go search a house, or we’re interviewing a suspect or a witness, then we have a camera audio video with us at all times,” said officer Sheena Parsons.
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Body cams for police shine light on truth
April 29, 2013, West Hartford News
Body cams may well be the next big change in policing. A number of departments in the region have already started using them, and some chiefs say it’s only a matter of time until every officer in the country is equipped with a camera. Advancement in technology and the lower cost that goes with it means officers can add to their gear lightweight cameras that will allow them to record their interactions with the public. “They are great tools for not only recording what you would expect, but they also seem to have great impact in ensuring civility during police interactions,” said John DeCarlo, a University of New Haven associate professor of criminal justice and former Branford police chief. Hamden Police Chief Thomas Wydra said law enforcement agencies using the technology across the country have seen improvement in the behavior of both parties, police and public.
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On-officer cameras to be tested on Phoenix police officers
April 12, 2013, AZfamily.com
A new program will keep nearly 50 Phoenix police officers under constant surveillance.
The Phoenix Police Department in partnership with Arizona State University College of Public Programs secured a federal grant to buy about 50 on-officer camera systems from the VIEVU Company. The on-officer cameras will be used in the Maryvale Precinct starting April 15. The precinct is divided into two similarly sized squad areas. One squad will wear the cameras and the other will not in an attempt to determine the impact and efficacy of the cameras.
UPD will wear mini video cameras on campus
Feb 19, 2013, The Spartan Daily
University police officers will soon be wearing miniature portable video cameras on their uniforms while they’re on campus. According to Sgt. John Laws of the University Police Department, “the police patrol officers and library security officers” are going to be the ones wearing these video cameras to help gather evidence. Laws said the department will be using VieVu video cameras, which are small devices that are clipped onto the front of an officer’s uniform.
Pigeon Forge police getting new body cameras to wear on shirts/lapels
Feb. 18, 2013, The Mountain Press
Police officers here soon will have a new tool: body cameras. The City Commission has approved the purchase of eight body cameras for the police department. They cost $909.95 each, for a total of $7,279.60. “We have video cameras in cars, but not on motorcyles,” Police Chief Jack Baldwin told the commission at its meeting last week. “These would be to outfit motorcycle officers with video cameras.”
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Clip-on cameras could replace police-cruiser video
Feb 03, 2013, CantonRep.com
It’s smaller than some cellphones and has the ability to serve as the neutral eye at a drug raid, homicide scene or during other police business. The Canton Police Department is trying out the technology — known as body-worn video cameras or wearable cameras. The audio is crisp. So are the images. And the information is easily downloaded into the department’s computer system. Since December, the department has been sampling three of the cameras — on loan from Vievu, the Seattle-based equipment provider. So far, police officials like the cameras. They serve as a faster, quicker, stronger version of the police-car cameras the department has used for about 10 years. “We’re always trying to stay current in everything,” said Police Chief Bruce Lawver. “First of all in technology.” “I can see eventually these portable cameras being the mainstay for the department and getting away from the in-car cameras,” he said.
Cheverly Police using body cams to record police stops
Jan 30, 2013, WTTG FOX 5 News
The body cam has been a godsend for Traffic Enforcement Officer Francis Webb. “I let the people I pull over know they’re being recorded audibly and visibly,” Webb says. “Their demeanor changes right away.” The new body cams cost about $900 each. Dash cams cost twice that much. “The biggest reason we purchased them is that they go everywhere the officers go,” says Chief Robshaw. “They’re not tethered to the car like you would during traffic stops, for example. If the officer needs to get out during a stop, or go inside a home during a domestic, the camera goes too, and sees and hears everything the officer does.” Supervisors routinely go over the video captured, and so do the officers. It’s made them much more aware of what they say to the public since it’s all being recorded. “The biggest complaint we get is how officers talk to people,” says Chief Robshaw. “That’s less likely to happen now. This has been a valuable training tool for us.” Besides the Cheverly Police Department, New Carrollton Police are also using the body cams. Video from one camera has already cleared one officer there, who was accused of making an ethnic slur while dealing with a citizen. They checked the tape and it didn’t happen.
New Carrollton, Cheverly police outfitted with body cameras
January 29, 2013, Gazette.net
The camera’s recordings are meant to provide more concrete evidence and reduce “he said, she said” situations where complaints are made against officers when they are on patrol, said Cheverly Police Chief Buddy Robshaw. Periodically, superiors in each department will review some of the recordings to ensure that officers are following proper protocol on the job, said New Carrollton Police Chief David Rice. Robshaw said he opted to purchase the body cameras over dashboard cameras, which record only traffic stops. “The limitation is that you can’t carry the dash cameras into the house on a domestic violence call,” Robshaw said, who noted that body cameras cost about $900 each while dashboard cameras cost up to $1,800. “I would rather have it where I can get [a recording] the whole time.” Cheverly resident Doug Alexander, 59, said he did not feel the cameras raised privacy concerns. “It limits liability for the town and makes for accountability,” Alexander said. “I think the combination is a good thing to have for a police department.”
Body cameras will aid in police work
Jan. 3, 2013, Derby Informer
Andover police officers will soon be wearing cameras. The city council approved the purchase of 20 body cameras at a meeting in December. “It’s for officer safety,” said Michael Keller, chief of police. “Cameras have become an integral part of law enforcement.” The department will still use car cameras, but Keller said they are limited in what they can record. “The car cameras have done so much to document evidence and cases and to exonerate officers when false allegations are made against them, but a lot of times officers go inside buildings and homes,” said Keller. “This way the cameras will be on the officer’s person and they’ll be able to capture that kind of documentation.” Keller said the department has been testing out a variety of cameras and liked the VieVu camera best, based on its quality and software capabilities. The total cost for all 20 is $16,180. They will be purchased through Voice Products, which will provide on-site training.
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