

Ask HN: Who wants to start a body cam company with me? - swalkergibson

Self - explanatory title. It is time that the citizenry of the United States hold those that are assigned to protect and serve us in our communities accountable for their conduct. For too long, people of color have lamented their relationship with law enforcement personnel. It is time to provide a cost - effective, simple body camera solution that is accessible to all law enforcement agencies.<p>About me: I am a software guy. This will take people smarter than me to execute, but I think it is important. If you are interested in taking part, email me at my username at the Google Mail.
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matt_s
I think part of the hesitancy of body cams is how do you solve the problem of
hours of useless video of them sitting in a car, etc.?

Is it worth it for a municipality to have a body cam going when they hand out
a speeding ticket? Or any of the 99% of the boring stuff they do (loud
neighbor, minor traffic accident, etc.) That is likely to cause a lot more BS
court time. Each $50 device could end up costing taxpayers $1000's if the idea
is to record every encounter.

Maybe somehow tie the body cam to start recording on key events: police person
exits their vehicle, they start running (gyroscope?) or when they un-holster
their weapon (gun or taser), and ability for manual start.

I don't have any expertise but it would be cool to have it just recording to
some device in their vehicle, then if they are too far away it records locally
and syncs up when they return. Vehicles could be transmitting event data to HQ
and live video after an event triggers. This could help with officer safety
where an officer might need backup but can't ask for whatever reason.

If a person wants to do something malicious, they just need to cover the
camera or make it "malfunction" \- its not going to stop that activity.

I think the path to sell this type of thing is officer safety and officer CYA
for their own careers. Also for more experienced officers - video of expertly
handled encounters could serve as training to recruits on how to handle
difficult situations like domestic violence.

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Throwaway90283
You want to develop a body cam for law enforcement? I don't think current
systems or costs are holding them back at the moment. Instead, most law
enforcement agencies simply don't want them. Even if they were mandatory, they
would likely be disabled, or _accidentally_ broken or obscured during key
events.

If you want to see officers wearing body cams one day, you're better off
getting involved in politics.

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hodder
How do you plan to compete with existing solutions such as those from Taser
who have scale and established ties to enforcement agencies?

How do you plan on selling to government agencies who only deal with
established (high credit) vendors?

How do you plan on differentiating your product?

Is there a reason why Gopro hasn't pursued this market?

If I were pursuing the market, I would focus on small rural departments to
establish scale - the Walmart scale up model. But, do small town cops desire
to be recorded while they work?

If you can answer those questions, you may be on to something. I wish you
luck.

