By Henry Broback
“For the first time in a long time, I’ve gone over a month without being spit on.”
“People see that I can document how they behave and they act differently.”
“I had somebody see me with my camera and tell me, ‘Oh, I can’t harass you anymore.’”
“I feel like people finally believe me when I talk about how interactions really went.”
“I don’t want to start my shift without my camera.”
In recent conversations with three different parking enforcement officers who recently started utilizing wearable cameras, a harsh reality became clear: there is a void in the existing toolset that officers face when trying to do their job while documenting interactions and staying safe while doing it.
Increasingly, officers find themselves stuck in the middle of two groups of people: those who are verbally and physically aggressive or confrontational, and those who make accusations of rudeness or harassment. While radio reports and written reports can provide a starting point, organizations are finding that POV video offers an objective view into what officers face in the field every day.
Organizations and Municipalities are shaping the future of safety and efficiency in the industry via:
- Video with audio transcription – an exact recounting of interactions to cut out the question, “What did they say and how did you respond?”
- Livestream for supervisors to tap into emergency situations from anywhere, anytime.
- Safety highlights – real time alerts to see critical situations as they occur.
- Reporting – standardization of incident reporting through the use of a wearable camera.
If you work in an office, you most likely have tools that record video meetings, take notes while you’re speaking to people, and organize your day using technology. Making the same essentials easy and accessible to field workers through wearable technology is proving to be an avenue that provides them with the confidence to do their job while staying as safe as possible.
Henry Broback is the Director of Strategic Partnerships for Plix AI Body Cameras. Henry can be reached at henry@plix.ai.