Pistol Cam to shoot video and bullets
The Pistol Cam creates lasting memories of life's most precious moments. Rob has more at Boing Boing Gadgets.Pistol Cam
The Pistol Cam creates lasting memories of life's most precious moments. Rob has more at Boing Boing Gadgets.Pistol Cam
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When asked if the camera they planned on using for police officers was color or black and white a rep from the NYPD stated "We only shoot coloreds....i mean in color."
There are a lot of cases that don't end up on someone's cell phone camera and don't have any witnesses at all. This would help gather evidence for criminal convictions and would keep a record of any misuse of force by police.
Police should have them on every issued weapon and have them automatically activate whenever they draw their weapons from their holsters.
It's going to be interesting to see what is filmed when the first jackass uses this stupid device to take pictures of the police making an arrest. How many times have we heard stories of kids and adults being shot because they were using a realistic looking fake gun. It's hard to blame the cops when they believe a person is about to shoot them.
Yes, I know some police forces can be trigger happy, but this is one instance where I generally think they're correct.
Idiotic device.
Prediction: in fifteen more years, it will be more subversive to carry a camera in public than a firearm.
@4, I think it already is
so what'll they do with all them phone cameras? Izzat how we'll tell? When they stop including cameras in cell phones?
Rick@3: It's going to be interesting to see what is filmed when the first jackass uses this stupid device to take pictures of the police making an arrest.
If you're carrying a gun with a camera, and use it to take tourist photos, you deserve the darwin award.
equipment keeps getting lighter and better. One day cops wil have to wear video cameras that record EVERYTHING on their shift (they already have dash cams and now gun cams,so why not?) Maybe they should have blood monitors they wear on duty to weed out the drunks.
First to make the "First person shooter" video game joke!
Ah, #3- It is designed to take a photo WHEN the pistol is fired.
It's intended to keep a record of what was in front of the gun when it was fired, not as some sort of bizzare multi-tasker.
thank goodness, think of the difficulty in explaining the bathroom sequences
Every handgun should be required to have one, that snaps a picture every time its fired, with penalties for deletion of pictures within a certain time frame, for cops and everyone else. Great evidence for any investigation of whether a shooting is justified.
Dunno...I think a head-mounted cam, activated during the officer's commencement of an investigation, would be a better way of establishing the chain of events he/she saw that made him/her pull the trigger in the first place. Actually that in combo with the gun-cam would be the ideal.
Not fired, drawn. Big difference. Most of the time, when an officer has to draw on someone, the officer does not fire. If the gun is fired or an arrest is made at gunpoint, the footage will show the events leading up to the incident (Including whether or not the suspect resisted arrest or was endangering the officer.)
I think this is a horrible idea. It will encourage cops to escalate a situation and to draw on someone when they wouldn't otherwise have done so, in order to obtain video should they -perhaps- need to shot.
Also, I can't imagine that the blue wall won't protect cops; in a bad shoot any LEO who examines a camera will happily "certify" that the camera unfortunately failed to function properly.
@TAKUAN:
Not necessary to ban cameras. As Microsoft new "weownurphone" prototype system demonstrates, the police could soon simply send out a killcamera command for all cameras/cameraphones in the area. (Scientology orgs would broadcast killcamera 24/7). Question is, how long until film cameras are illegal. Or older vintage digital cameras. Think of it as Macrovision for your ability to record reality.
(If you think that silly, remember E911 and the now-mandatory personal tracker you carry in your cell phone. Few noticed we're all bugged now. Eats up a lot of power, but batteries will improve, and they will use the ability more and more to fish for badguyz or protestors or whatever.)
Nowadays, they simply take your camera or your film, depending. I recall a few years back during the filming of Batman Begins on Route 41 (batmobile chase), the cops simply confiscated any cameras from people who approached the shoot. We call it "theft". But who's to stop them?
Yeah, cause that guy that didn't think twice, before he shot you in the face, simply wouldn't dare to delete the picture.
And who gets to be the first one to go to jail for never having fired his gun (and no pictures on the gun-cam just totally told the Jury, that something must have been deleted)?
we need to look at how dictatorships with no rule of law (like China) presently track down and censor forbidden images on the web. We may be dealing with it personally soon enough.
Pretty soon the standard side-arm will be ten pounds of batteries and gadgetry. Let's see, laser sight, camera, DNA sensors, hell why not auto-targeting gyroscopes with eye-phone goggles and a GPS locator(actually that last one could be pretty useful).
Hypothetically, not a bad idea. But, in situations
where firing a gun really is warranted, the officer's accuracy shouldn't be compromised by
having a bulky camera on the gun.
the officer's accuracy shouldn't be compromised by having a bulky camera on the gun.
Gun mounted flashlights are fairly standard on many police weapons. This thing looks to be about the same size and weight as a gun light.
Also, if you click through the layer of links, there's actually a demo of the camera in action. It shows a video from a gun camera at a firing range. The video is running constantly, and you see the guy pointing at a paper target, you see the gun jump when he pulls the trigger, and you hear the 'bang' of the shot. The video records constantly while the guy goes through several shots, showing what happens in between.
According to the link, the program was initiated by a police department who wanted to make sure officers weren't using excessive lethal force.
So, it seems the technology is advanced enough and the intent is good enough. I can't see any negatives that can come out of having complete transparancy of the state's use of force in police procedures.
CastanhasDoPara wrote:
"Pretty soon the standard side-arm will be ten pounds of batteries and gadgetry. Let's see, laser sight, camera, DNA sensors, hell why not auto-targeting gyroscopes with eye-phone goggles and a GPS locator(actually that last one could be pretty useful)."
Judge Dredd replied:
"Yours, IF you graduate..."
If only there was some way of controlling the number of guns on the streets....
HICKS: Here, I'd like to introduce you to a close personal friend of mine. M-41A 10mm pulse-rifle, over and under with a 30mm pump-action grenade launcher.
This is exactly why you should learn to curve the bullet.
I'm surprised no one touched on this before, but reading this made me think: just how in the hell is a plainclothesman or detective supposed to CONCEAL that thing? Let's not forget, an undercover cop's LIFE can depend on his weapon being concealed. Plus, Diallo and Bell were both shot by plainclothesmen. So are all plainclothesmen now supposed to have this enormous extra bulge in their concealment holsters? "Man, you a cop?" "Nah, man, that's just my large block-shaped genitalia." I too would like blacks, whites, hispanics, asians and every race on earth to hold hands and sing coom-by-ya so there is no more crime forever but Pistol-Cam will not make this world closer to that utopia. I think it will put people in nastier situations than it will get them out of. Besides, it sounds beyond the NYPD's price range. They can't even pay their officers a respectable salary.