Things to Think About
After a great deal of consideration, we have come to the conclusion that the reason for using vehicle cameras can be reduced to just three requirements.
1. Litigation avoidance or winning those cases where court involvement is necessary.
2. Prosecution support by providing the evidence required for success in the courtroom.
3. Better administrative control of fleet vehicles
All too often these considerations are overridden by focusing on equipment rather than the basic objectives. The subject of administrative procedures generally doesn't come up until after the purchase of the equipment. The purchase of equipment is a one-time event. The operation and administration of that equipment lasts much longer. Let's take a look at some of those considerations.
Equipment manufacturers have done their best to reduce vehicle cabin clutter to the minimum size possible. One manufacturer crams the DVR, monitor, and rear seat camera into an oversized rear view mirror. Another sticks the DVR into the slot normally allocated for the AM/FM radio. Another offers a DVD burner mounted above the vehicle rear mirror. Still another moves the recorder to the vehicle trunk.
Virtually all manufacturers agree that a good front mounted camera is critical. The best we have seen is Sony as shown on the left. The Sony camera used by Eagleye offers superior zoom capabilities, even over similar Sony cameras offered by competitors. As far as rear seat cameras are concerned, we had a revelation. If you want to see what's going on in the back seat, patient transport area for EMS folks, or prisoner 
transport area for prisoner transport vans, you need the camera in the rear passenger area. With the exception of Digital Ally and WatchGuard, the majority of manufacturers, including Eagleye use a very efficient low light level camera similar to the one shown at the right.
A wireless body microphone is an essential component of a patrol car camera system. This provides the ability to record officer/offender conversations outside the vehicle. Telex is the leading manufacturer of digital devices utilizing the 2.4 GHz band. Earlier systems used 900 MHz analog technology. In general, both systems work well, but the 2.4 GHz systems seem to have longer range and better audio quality. Suffice to say that Eagleye offers the 2.4 GHz body microphone.
Now comes the tricky part - the selection or recording technology. Currently you have a choice of DVD's, Compact Flash (CF) memory cards, and hard drives designed specifically for mobile use. Without getting technical, let us just say for now that DVD technology was never designed for mobile use and contrary to what you may have been told, or even what you read, DVD is not a good choice. Additional information is available in our WatchGuard competitive report at Competitive Reviews.
CF memory cards are a good choice from the viewpoint of good recording and transfer capability coupled with low cost administrative viewing. Many computers already have CF card readers. USP plug in readers are available for well under $50 and the software is FREE! CF card memory is practically limited to 32 GB's. For most users, 8 or 16 GB capacity is more than adequate, in particular if a spare card is included with the purchase. Hard drives offer greater capacity (120 GB) and faster downloading but don’t work under 32ÕF and have a higher potential of mechanical failure.
Some manufacturers offer only 4 GB memory but the average is to 8 GB. Although higher capacity memory is available (16 and 32 GB), most manufacturers don't offer extended memory options to keep cost low.
Like many in our industry, we had accepted the fact that removable hard drives, while acceptable in ambulances, commercial vehicles and school busses had no place in law enforcement vehicle, or at least that's what we thought. After all, it is somewhat more difficult to remove a hard drive than it is to pull out a CF card. However, we had overlooked the greater storage capacity and faster file archiving of the removable hard drive.
We had hardly given any thought to transferring file data and what effect it had on administrative personnel. We know that larger system users could not be adequately served with a system that required periodic removal of data storage device, transferring, viewing and archiving the data. The traditional 8 GB DVR using CF memory cards as shown at the upper left, offered a good solution for smaller user but found little favor with larger users due to physical handling delays.
Large users required a faster method of data transfer. The early large fleet users transferred data from the vehicle cameras via plug in cables at the station headquarters. More recently, 900 MHz analog, and later the 2.4 GHz digital wireless systems provide wireless automatic downloads when the vehicle approaches headquarters. Only a few suppliers offer systems of this type with Mobile Vision and Integrian being two of the better known manufacturers. More recently, others have developed this technology in order to provide solutions for larger users. Still, there are some issues worthy of comment.
The wireless transfer of data is obviously more expensive than removing a CF card or hard drive. There is also the consideration of increased cost for the wireless transceivers, computer servers with large data storage capability, fast operating speeds and custom software. In short, wireless data transfer has many advantages, but like anything else, there is always the dark side. Cost and complexity are major disadvantages. We know of one municipality that spent over a half million dollars for one of these systems. After giving the manufacturer a year to work out the problems, they took the system out which proved to be a costly proposition for all concerned!
We think there is a better way to deal with data transfer and administrative protocol, better than traditional 4 GB CF cards, and better than wireless data systems. Best of all, existing CF card systems can be converted to this new way of handling data. Incredibly, we find that administrative handling of data is the number one problem with the operation of vehicle camera systems. Our newest system, which we call System III, provides a new and simplified approach to data management while simultaneously addressing the need to reduce vehicle cabin clutter as well as including free GPS tracking for better fleet management.
An introduction to System III
System III addresses all system requirements including reduction of cabin clutter, improved administrative capability, and simplified system management.
First, let's talk about cabin clutter. The problem is that there are simply too many things that need to go into the driver’s compartment. The camera isn't a problem. If can easily mounted on the windshield near the mirror without interfering with the driver's forward vision. The monitor can be placed anywhere - on a visor, on the dash, on a console, virtually anywhere.
The body microphone charger doesn't require a lot of space and all body microphones require a charger, so we will say for now that the three things that MUST be in the drivers compartment are the forward camera, a monitor, and a charger for the body microphone.
The rear seat camera is behind the officer, so that isn't a problem. So what have we left out? You guessed it - the Digital Video Recorder (DVR). That's the problem! So what is the solution? It most certainly is NOT settling for a consumer grade DVR squashed into a rear view mirror, AM/FM radio slot, or overhead console. The System III DVR, either CF or hard drive models easily mount in a standard console or even under the seat.
If you are considering the purchase of a Digital Ally or ICOP system, we invite you to visit http://falcondirect.web.officelive.com/message.aspx for information you won’t find in their product literature. If you are considering the purchase of an Interceptor system, you may be interested in information at http://falcondirect.web.officelive.com/competition.aspx. If you are considering the purchase of a WatchGuard system, we offer an interesting review at www.info4u.us/WatchGuard_Competitive_Review.pdf.
A product data sheet on System III is available at www.info4u.us/SystemIII.pdf. System III could be the right system for YOU!
