SYDNEY – Fujitsu Australia has won a multi-million deal to equip NSW police with body-worn video cameras that are said to improve the ability of field officers to collect evidence, streamline administrative processes – and hopefully provide court evidence to see more perps convicted.It can also live-stream video feeds from coppers in
the field back to operational command units, Fujitsu said yesterday.
It’s not just a Japanese system. Fujitsu says it has partnered with the
Australian mobile video streaming technology company m-View Live Video to
develop a system “customised to the needs of the NSW Police Force”.
It is said to feature one of the world’s most rugged and proven body-worn
cameras – manufactured by FireCam, a US-based outfit that specialises in
helmet-mounted fireproof cameras for firefighters, but has more recently
branched into the chest-mounted devices for police and other baddy-hunters.
The cameras are water-resistant, have 32GB of built-in storage and infrared
night vision.
The Body Worn Video (BWV) system will also incorporate “one of the most
secure and reliable forms of biometric authentication available today”,
Fujitsu says: a PalmSecure palm vein reader, designed by Fujitsu.
This is said make it easy for officers to check-in their equipment at the end
of each shift with the assurance that the evidence gathered is aligned to the
correct source. Fujitsu adds that it will assist police in deploying and
maintaining the system.
NSW Police’s major events and incident group commander, assistant commissioner
Alan Clarke, yesterday said: “The Body Worn Video solution will deliver a
reliable and direct form of evidence gathering, which will compliment the
officer’s written notebook entry.”
It was unclear yesterday whether FireCam-equipped coppers will have to inform
subjects that they are being filmed, or that the movies snapped might be
tendered in court.
