Ask HN: Who wants to start a body cam company with me?

[swalkergibson]

Self - explanatory title. It is time that the citizenry of the United States hold those that are assigned to protect and serve us in our communities accountable for their conduct. For too long, people of color have lamented their relationship with law enforcement personnel. It is time to provide a cost - effective, simple body camera solution that is accessible to all law enforcement agencies.

About me: I am a software guy. This will take people smarter than me to execute, but I think it is important. If you are interested in taking part, email me at my username at the Google Mail.

[mattbrewsbytes]

I think part of the hesitancy of body cams is how do you solve the problem of hours of useless video of them sitting in a car, etc.?

Is it worth it for a municipality to have a body cam going when they hand out a speeding ticket? Or any of the 99% of the boring stuff they do (loud neighbor, minor traffic accident, etc.) That is likely to cause a lot more BS court time. Each $50 device could end up costing taxpayers $1000's if the idea is to record every encounter.

Maybe somehow tie the body cam to start recording on key events: police person exits their vehicle, they start running (gyroscope?) or when they un-holster their weapon (gun or taser), and ability for manual start.

I don't have any expertise but it would be cool to have it just recording to some device in their vehicle, then if they are too far away it records locally and syncs up when they return. Vehicles could be transmitting event data to HQ and live video after an event triggers. This could help with officer safety where an officer might need backup but can't ask for whatever reason.

If a person wants to do something malicious, they just need to cover the camera or make it "malfunction" - its not going to stop that activity.

I think the path to sell this type of thing is officer safety and officer CYA for their own careers. Also for more experienced officers - video of expertly handled encounters could serve as training to recruits on how to handle difficult situations like domestic violence.

[Throwaway90283]

You want to develop a body cam for law enforcement? I don't think current systems or costs are holding them back at the moment. Instead, most law enforcement agencies simply don't want them. Even if they were mandatory, they would likely be disabled, or accidentally broken or obscured during key events.

If you want to see officers wearing body cams one day, you're better off getting involved in politics.

[hodder]

How do you plan to compete with existing solutions such as those from Taser who have scale and established ties to enforcement agencies?

How do you plan on selling to government agencies who only deal with established (high credit) vendors?

How do you plan on differentiating your product?

Is there a reason why Gopro hasn't pursued this market?

If I were pursuing the market, I would focus on small rural departments to establish scale - the Walmart scale up model. But, do small town cops desire to be recorded while they work?

If you can answer those questions, you may be on to something. I wish you luck.