100 Boston Police Officers To Be Assigned Body Cams

Initially Boston PD asked for volunteers to wear body cameras, but no cops stepped up.  Therefore, like children, they will be assigned camera duty.

BOSTON — Boston Police Commissioner William Evans says he plans to randomly assign body cameras to 100 officers by September since none of them volunteered for the pilot program.

The Boston Globe reports Evans made the comments Tuesday during his monthly “Ask the Commissioner” interview on WGBH-FM’s Boston Public Radio.The move comes after Evans warned that he might have to force officers to wear them because no officers volunteered. The rollout date for the pilot program is Sept. 1.

Officials said last month that the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association had agreed to the six-month pilot program.

Evans has acknowledged it’s been a “hard sell” to officers.

The camera mounts to a patrolman’s chest to capture video and audio while the officers go about their shift.  The transparency seems merited, given the uptick in public scrutiny over police behavior.

If the pilot program is successful, look for more cities to roll-out the technology.  A company that stands to benefit from precincts paying [likely] premium sums for the body cam is Ambarella (ticker AMBA) who manufactures many of the working bits inside small cameras like the Go Pro.

Other plays are DGLY (which option addict has been all over) and GPRO.