Bodyworn Camera Implications

Body-Worn Camera Usage Is Growing But What Are The Implications?

The popularity of body-worn camera is increasing over the years and the device is commonly used by the police officers to record altercations. With these cameras, it is really easy to gather video evidence which results in reducing the number of dangerous violent situations. Recently, a large number of police forces are adopting the use of body cam technology and there are numerous companies offering a range of models. It would not be tough for you to select the appropriate body-worn camera if you are aware of your own needs and have the right information available at your end.

Apart from the countless benefits associated with the body-worn camera, there are also some implications which should be considered in advance.

1.   Massive storage issues – It is mainly due to the high volume of data recorded by these cameras which lead to huge storage issues. As an example, a small European state consisting 30,000 police officers resulting in 90 million hours of video in a year. In order to store all these videos, you need a massive storage system which results in high costs.

2.   Managing Exploitation – With a body-worn camera, identifying exploitation is a challenging task to sort out. Once a video is recorded, how can a commanding officer use for evidential purpose? In the criminal prosecution system, a lot of people will need access to the recorded video. In order to avoid any sort of trouble, the video and other additional evidence should be served to elicit guilty pleas in quick time. With these cameras, you need a flawless back end storage system which multiple users can access but it should be a cost-effective one.

3.   How To Protect The Privacy of Citizens? – Protecting the privacy of the citizens is the most important implication associated with the body-worn camera. Body-worn cameras capture the innocent bystanders while recording altercations as well. These people may not want any video or details to be shared with the public. Things become little more complicated if the citizen in the footage asks for a copy of the video under the act of freedom of information. In such circumstances, AV specialist must edit the video and blur faces of innocent people. Misuse of body-worn camera footage and hurting the privacy of the citizens is simply not acceptable. Personal privacy of all the citizens should be ensured which is a bit difficult task to achieve with a body-worn camera.

With the ever-increasing number of criminal acts, implementing body-worn camera systems to the infrastructure of security firms and law enforcement agencies is a must. It is all about using the recording device in the right manner and strictly avoiding any misuse. According to experts, these cameras should be handled by professionals who have a good understanding of the technology. Without a doubt, the body-worn camera technology is here to stay for a very long time and we hope the exploitation of the recordings can be kept under control.

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Body-worn Camera Implications - Rewire Security Blog

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Implications and benefits of using Body Worn CCTV Cameras for Security Companies and Law Enforcement Agencies - Rewire Security

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Rewire Security

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Rewire Security

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