How the Body-Worn Camera Has Changed in Law Enforcement

The BC-100 model (seen here), from BODYCAM by Pro-Vision Video Systems, was launched in 2013 and discontinued in 2016 when the BC-300 came out. The BC-100 had a 4 hour record time (10 hours if you had the optional power pack), due to a larger battery the BC-300 upped that to 12 continuous hours.

With experimental use dating back to the late 1990s, body-worn cameras and the evidentiary audio/video they produce have become a mandated standby of all law enforcement agencies and not just in the U.S. When first developed, law enforcement agencies embraced the concept of mobile video through the use of dashboard-mounted cameras or “dashcams.” That video was captured at the whim of the officer who would turn it on when he felt it might be needed. Many a drunk driver’s field sobriety battery testing was caught on video and used in court as evidence. It didn’t take long for those who manufactured video cameras and those who used them for capturing potential evidentiary video to realize that video captured from the officer’s perspective would be of greater value.

The BC-100 was designed for mostly center-mount on person with rotating garment clip, but did offer optional shoulder-mount clip. The BC-300 (seen here) was designed for mostly-center mount on person but with more versatile mounting options now including multiple magnet mounts and an improved rotating garment clip. There is no shoulder-mount clip for BC-300.

At the beginning of the body-worn camera technology era, cameras were comparably large and bulky. Their weight, data storage capacity and power supplies made them, shall we say, less than comfortable to wear long term. As technology developed all of the challenges were addressed—and continue to be at an ever-increasing level of efficiency. Additional challenges were created by the growing use of the body worn cameras and increased amount of audio/video data that was captured.

When any body-worn camera program is initialized there is also policy put in place to go with it. Those policies have to evolve in compliance with legal mandates, insurance mandates, court decisions, etc.

Challenge number one: getting the body-worn camera to “see” what the officer sees.

While one of the company's first models, Panasonic's First Generation BWC (seen here) features were ready for modern standards. It included the ability to record at 1080p, 720p, and 360p resolutions; had built-in GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth; an IP-67 MIL-STD 810G rating; and a configurable 3-minute prerecord setting. The model is estimated to discontinue in 2022.

What started as a camera mounted on the dashboard and limited to viewing whatever was in front of the patrol vehicle grew into being a camera worn on the officer’s body. The question: Where? Where best to mount/wear the camera that it most closely captures what the officer is presented with? The prerequisites for such a location go beyond just where the camera points though. It also has to not interfere with the officer’s vision, movement or ability to react to a perceived threat.

Some of the early versions of body cameras were worn on the belt. Due to point of view and perspective that quickly went by the wayside. Cameras worn on the chest, shoulder and even glasses became options explored as shrinking technology supported those options. If you compare what each camera would capture in its viewing field to what the human eye captures as a person looks around, obviously the camera on the glasses becomes as close to optimal as possible. There was also the option of mounting a camera on the actual handgun of the officer so that the gun “would see” the threat that was being engaged.

The Next Generation BWC from Panasonic i-PRO Sensing Solutions Co., features a user swappable battery able to run a full 12-hour shift.

All of these options faced the same challenge: while the camera lens might have a wide field of view, it still only looks directly in a single direction. The human eye can move back and forth up to 170° and that’s added to the amount the head can swivel on the neck. As a result, with the example of the camera mounted on the gun, it could be pointed right when the officer turns his head left and looks farther left. What’s the end result? The camera could potentially be looking in the opposite direction of where the officer is. That is of little use when trying to use video to justify an officer’s actions or capture video evidence.

The BWX-100 body-worn camera (seen here) took quite a different direction when compared with the BodyVISION. This more modern style features a Lithium-Ion Polymer 12-hour battery life (at 720p HD) and a 129-degree horizontal and 140-degree diagonal field of view. It's built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth allows live video review and bidirectional activation - which means the in-car system can activate the camera, the camera can activate the in-car system, and the BWX-100 can activate another BWX-100 (provided you have the TB-100 Bluetooth Transmitter).

With the most common solution of mounting the camera on the officer’s chest, the challenge then becomes capturing as much useful audio and video as possible in the variety of light and noise conditions that surround an officer during a shift. In the beginning, there was limited on-board data storage and battery life for the camera. The cameras themselves required a certain level of light to capture useful video. As technology progressed, battery life was gradually extended, cameras became Wi-Fi enabled—doing away with the need for on-board data storage as the video was streamed straight to a larger data storage system either in car or in station—and camera technology itself has been miniaturized to the point of being able to add light enhancement technologies into the camera itself.

The COBAN FOCUS X1 features a 120-degree horizontal field of view; 64 gigabytes of storage; flexible mounting and camera options so officers can securely attach it anywhere on a uniform or vest, including an optional clip-on IR camera; a full-shift battery when recording at 720p; and a simple easy-to-read LCD screen to verify the status of battery life, connectivity, and storage. — The COBAN FOCUS X1 features a 120-degree horizontal field of view; 64 gigabytes of storage; flexible mounting and camera options so officers can securely attach it anywhere on a uniform or vest, including an optional clip-on
IR camera; a full-shift battery when recording at 720p; and a simple easy-to-read LCD screen to verify the status of battery life, connectivity, and storage.

Contemporary body-worn cameras can capture over 12 hours of continuous video during a shift. That means that your new cameras need to have sufficient data storage system in place to do so, but also sufficient battery life to keep the camera running that long. With a pre- and post-primary video capture buffer, when the camera is turned on by the officer, the system automatically stores, as part of the recording anywhere from one to three minutes of video viewed before the officer consciously started the video. A lot of the pre- and post-primary video captures have included high-value evidentiary content that wouldn’t have been available without these buffer capturing firmware systems.

As the technology continues to develop and evolve, we’re seeing the integration of such functionality as facial recognition and subject identification even during a live-streaming process. As ever increasing amounts of video evidence is processed, stored and used for court purposes, policy evolves in parallel to keep up with legal mandates and in response to court precedence. One thing is for sure: body-worn video is not ever going to go away and is sure to play an increasing role in court proceedings. It’s the one type of evidence that offers impartial evidence for and against officers, citizens and suspects.

What’s the future of body cameras look like?

“Police body cameras have become much more than just a high quality camera with a long lasting battery and a few mounting packs. Instead of just worrying about specifications, it is becoming increasingly important that the officer’s bodycam is able to integrate with other LEO systems, like additional cameras, sensors, dispatching, and records management. As part of an evidence ecosystem, body cameras are now integrating with vehicle triggers, combining feeds with other cameras (like dash cameras), and providing part of a complete case package (with complete audit logs and media synchronization).”

— Mark Griffin, Vice President, Law Enforcement Business Unit of Safe Fleet