The slayings of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks have law enforcement agencies getting proactive about recording their officers in the field by adding body cams … 360aproko has learned.
We spoke to a few of the companies supplying body cameras to law enforcement, and both tell us they’ve had an influx of inquiries over the past month. Nick Hamner of 10-8 Video in Tennessee, tells us his business has seen more than a 70 percent increase this month in calls from law enforcement agencies looking for specs and pricing.
Hamner says 10-8 serves mostly middle and smaller sized police and sheriff’s departments … meaning less than 200 officers. From what he’s heard, he says most of them are preemptively scouting, because they’re expecting body cams to be mandated … whether it be by cities, states, or even from the feds.
Likewise, Will Walker of PatrolEyes out of Michigan — which outfits a couple hundred U.S. police agencies, and over a dozen overseas — tells us the recent spike in body cam interest mirrors what they got in 2014 … after Michael Brown was fatally shot by a cop.
That rush for body cams was evident by 2016, when, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics, nearly half of all U.S. law enforcement agencies had slapped body cams on their officers and deputies.
Walker says the latest increased sales aren’t just for law enforcement, though. Other customers include process servers, tow truck drivers and sometimes even parties in a bad divorce.
It should be noted — in wake of Floyd’s death and the Brooks’ shooting, several police departments in the country have announced policy changes to make body cams mandatory going forward, but so far, they’re only required in 2 states.
