TechDirt reports
Taser, the company, gets a lot of cop love because of its titular product, which is deployed (too) frequently to subdue arrestees. It probably doesn't get as much love for its body cameras, especially since it's already wired one line to sync footage with Taser deployment.
Its cameras are going to get even less love now. Taser's latest product looks to ensure no shooting goes unrecorded.
To ensure accountability during police encounters, Axon, Taser's police body camera division, has announced a small sensor for gun holsters that can detect when a gun is drawn and automatically activate all nearby cameras. The sensor, Signal Sidearm, is part of a suite of products aimed at reducing the possibility that officers will fail to or forget to switch on their cameras during encounters with the public.
This isn't a welcome development for cops who'd rather have every shooting/killing go unrecorded. And it's probably not going to be picked up by many departments as it's an aftermarket add-on that serves the singular purpose of accountability.
[...] Say what you will about Taser's taser, but its camera division (Axon) continues to make strides towards better law enforcement accountability. In addition to the gun-out, camera-on clip, Axon has also made body/dash cameras that begin recording when squad car doors are opened and/or the cruiser's lights are turned on.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by takyon on Monday March 13 2017, @12:49AM (3 children)
It won't record the (alleged) actions of the suspect that led to the officer's gun being drawn. And if they are always relying on this new feature rather than turning the bodycam on manually, that context will never be captured.
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(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Monday March 13 2017, @09:41AM
How hard is it for the camera to be always on, but only buffering the last few minutes? When the gun is drawn, the buffer is written to disk and continues to write to disk until holstered.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Monday March 13 2017, @02:47PM
No, but it should capture the actions that made the victim enough of an immediate danger to justify shooting them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @07:13PM
It won't record the (alleged) actions of the suspect that led to the officer's gun being drawn. And if they are always relying on this new feature rather than turning the bodycam on manually, that context will never be captured.
True, but in many senses that doesn't matter. Let's say a criminal pulls an AK-47 and points it threateningly at a cop. The criminal then discards the gun and starts running away. The police are not justified to shoot the criminal now, even if 10 seconds earlier they had been.
How many situations can you picture that it is acceptable to shoot somebody for what they did 10 seconds ago but have since stopped doing? How many of those leave no physical evidence which can later be examined to corroborate the story? I'm sure there are a few, but they are fleetingly rare.