Police forces experiment with gun-mounted cameras

Video Credit: Reuters - Politics - Duration: 02:32s - Published 6 hours ago

Police forces experiment with gun-mounted cameras

Amid demands for more police transparency after the killing of George Floyd, U.S. police departments are experimenting with a new way of capturing potentially deadly moments: putting small cameras on their guns.

This report produced by Yahaira Jacquez.

0 shares

A California police department is equipping its officers with a new kind of camera that provides a unique point of view.

Phillips: "You can re-see situations through body cam but when it's on your gun, I think it's a little more of a bird's eye view of what I was actually seeing vs being a camera just flat on my chest.

Stephen Phillips is a police officer in King City.

His department is the first in California to implement gun-mounted cameras, something police chief Robert Masterson said he hopes will provide transparency as police departments across the nation grapple with a new wave of public scrutiny.

Masterson: "I think this is just one more tool we can implement to provide what the public is demanding." Especially after the high profile death of George Floyd - a black man killed when a Minneapolis cop knelt on his neck.

Others have died in police-related shootings.

Masterson: "With (the) public's responses to officer-involved shootings, I really felt it was important to have that perspective of what the officer most likely can see, and the best point of view to see that from is the barrel of the handgun." His department struck a roughly $12,500 deal for 18 of Viridian Weapon Technologies' FACT Duty weapon-mounted cameras in December 2019 before rolling them out late last month.

The technology works exactly as it sounds: cameras are mounted along a rail on the bottom of a firearm's barrel and offer the visual perspective of the handgun in an officer's hands.

They start recording once the gun is pulled from holster, allowing for a clear view of the target.

But Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union, warns that there are limits to the technology.

"Even when a gun is drawn, they're not going to capture the context of events leading up to the point where the officer draws their gun and often that is the most crucial part in evaluating an officer's action and whether that was abusive or professional." Stanley also said that the technology is only as good as the policies implemented to accompany them.

King City's camera policies include retaining body camera footage for 180 days and retaining any video showing use of force, including drawing a weapon, for two years.

According to the department, officers drew their firearms 15 times in 2019 and 9 times in 2020.

💡 newsR Knowledge: Other News Mentions

George Floyd man killed during Minneapolis police arrest in 2020

California State in the western United States

California barbershop moves business outside [Video]

California barbershop moves business outside

Californians are getting their lockdown locks tended to outdoors from Tuesday (July 21), in accordance with new protocols introduced by Governor Gavin Newsom.

Credit: Reuters Studio Duration: 01:04Published on January 1, 1970

California barbershops move business outside [Video]

California barbershops move business outside

Californians are getting their lockdown locks tended to outdoors from Tuesday (July 21), in accordance with new protocols introduced by Governor Gavin Newsom.

Credit: Reuters Studio Duration: 01:04Published on January 1, 1970

Trump census order targets illegal migrants [Video]

Trump census order targets illegal migrants

President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on Tuesday that targets migrants who are in the United States illegally from being counted when U.S. congressional voting districts are next redrawn. Gavino Garay produced this report.

Credit: Reuters - Politics Duration: 01:41Published on January 1, 1970

Virus cases uptick in California, beauty salons go open-air [Video]

Virus cases uptick in California, beauty salons go open-air

California reported a record increase of more than 11,800 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, according to a Reuters tally of county data, as the Trump administration pushes for schools to reopen to help businesses return to normal. Libby Hogan reports.

Credit: Reuters - Politics Duration: 02:14Published on January 1, 1970

King City, California City in California, United States

Viridian Green Laser Sights manufacturer of laser sights for firearms

Minneapolis Largest city in Minnesota

Peek-A-Boo! Cops Use Drones To Spy On Minnesota Nudists [Video]

Peek-A-Boo! Cops Use Drones To Spy On Minnesota Nudists

Police near Minneapolis, Minnesota used drones last week to check on an enormous threat to the local social order. Namely, CNN reports the drones were activated to check if sunbathers at a lakeside beach were breaking the law by going nude or topless. Golden Valley city officials say the police department used the high-tech surveillance devices at Twin Lake on July 10 after receiving complaints from the public. This stuff has been going on there for decades.

Credit: Wochit News Duration: 00:34Published on January 1, 1970

Family of George Floyd Files Civil Suit [Video]

Family of George Floyd Files Civil Suit

Attorneys for the family of George Floyd filed a federal civil lawsuit on Wednesday. The suit is against the city of Minneapolis and the police officers involved in the death of George Floyd. Floyd died May 25 after former officer Derek Chauvin used his leg to pin Floyd's neck to the ground for nearly nine minutes. Chauvin was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. The lawsuit was filed in US District Court for the District of Minnesota.

Credit: Wochit News Duration: 00:32Published on January 1, 1970

Floyd's family sues Minneapolis over his death [Video]

Floyd's family sues Minneapolis over his death

A trustee for the family of George Floyd, who died on May 25 after a Minneapolis policeman knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, sued the city of Minneapolis and four of its police officers in federal court on Wednesday, civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump said.

Credit: Reuters Studio Duration: 01:52Published on January 1, 1970

Police Clear 'Lawless' Seattle Zone [Video]

Police Clear 'Lawless' Seattle Zone

Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) area was taken over by protesters after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Cops were kept out of the area. The mayor of Seattle, Jenny Durkan, said the area would bring another "summer of love." Instead, there were noise complaints, rampant drug use.... .....lootings, rapes, assaults, property damage, public sex.... ....public bathroom violations, shootings, and a string of brutal murders.....

Credit: Wochit News Duration: 00:57Published on January 1, 1970