ICOP
With its dashboard-mounted video system, ICOP‘s 20/20 digital video system replaces the AM/FM radio slot in most patrol cars and provides built-in AM/FM radio within the system to compensate.

If other externally-mounted equipment prevents the use of the radio slot, the system alternatively can be mounted in the center console or on a pivoting arm. The system’s true flexibility comes from its ability to operate three different cameras and three different audio sources, and to record up to two cameras simultaneously.

User Experience: Sgt. Jeff Kazel of the Duluth (Minn.) Police Department says the 20/20’s versatility was one of the selling points of the ICOP system to his agency. “We’re currently transferring data via hard drive, but we’re setting up a wireless download system,” he explains.

Another reason that the Duluth PD likes the 20/20 is its ability to track discarded evidence. “We really like the GPS recall button,” Kazel says. “It allows you to mark certain locations. For example if somebody throws something out the window of a moving vehicle, you can mark the location by hitting a button and capturing the location’s GPS coordinates. Then you can go back and find whatever the suspect threw out of the vehicle.”

L3 Communications
The latest in-car video solution from L3 is the Flashback 2, which uses CompactFlash solid state flash memory. This is an extremely stable and, as the name implies, compact recording medium. Consequently, the Flashback 2 system can absorb great shock and vibration, and the recording unit is small enough to fit in a glove box.

The Flashback 2 captures video from two sources, audio from three sources, and metadata. It has a forward-facing color camera with 12x optical zoom and 12x digital zoom. The camera has a 1x-lux sensitivity that
can be improved to 0.03 lux, so it’s excellent for night use.

User Experience: The Irving (Texas) Police Department has been using the Flashback 2 in its 97 patrol cars since August 2008. The agency had been using an L3 VHS system until January 2008 when it switched to the all-digital Flashback 1.

Irving was still in the testing process for the Flashback 1 when the Flashback 2 was released so it was upgraded without charge. Patrol Administrator Ron Hargrove says the improvement over the Flashback 1 was significant. “The video resolution was improved, and the back end is a lot easier to use.”

Hargrove says the department is very pleased with the Flashback 2, especially when compared with the prior VHS system. “Downloading is automatic,” he explains. “The files go directly to the server upstairs, and the officers never have to touch them. All they have to do is pull up their videos on the computer upstairs after they are downloaded and assign them to a case.”

Safety Vision
The top of Safety Vision‘s law enforcement in-car video line is the PatrolRecorder 4C. This system captures video with up to four cameras and saves the files to a mobile-rated removable hard drive. Files can be downloaded wirelessly or by removing the hard drive.

Features of the PatrolRecorder 4C include live video streaming. With GPS mapping, speed tracking, and recording, the PatrolRecorder 4C captures metadata for each recorded event. The system can also record and play back video simultaneously.

User Experience: The LaMarque (Texas) Police Department has been using the PatrolRecorder 4C for two years, and downloads its files wirelessly. “I really like that I do not need to go out and manually remove the videos from the cars,” says Lt. Kirk Jackson. The department has 2 terabytes of external storage for saving the video produced by LaMarque’s 11 public safety vehicles. “We’re planning to put it in two more cars next year if the council approves them,” Jackson says.

One improvement that Jackson would like to see is the ability to play the video in court with the metadata displayed. “Now we play it back in court using Windows media. I want to be able to play it back in a standalone version of the Safety Vision player.” Jackson wants to use the metadata in court because it shows GPS coordinates and other pertinent information. “It even opens up a Google map and shows real time where the car was going and what speed it was going,” he adds.

WatchGuard
WatchGuard’s DV-1 in-car video system burns digital files to a rewriteable DVD in real time. The DVDs, which can be played on any DVD player, hold eight hours of video.

One of the selling points of the DV-1 is that users do not need any back-end equipment such as servers. All the user has to do is store the DVD. Users can also add the optional hybrid system, which uses WatchGuard’s Evidence Library Software to track the storage of video files. Using this software, users can search for specific incidents using metadata.

The DV-1 comes with a 22x optical zoom, high-resolution color camera with automatic night view mode. Users can record up to 10 minutes of pre-event or post-event video. They also don’t have to worry about the disc becoming too full to record. When the disc is full, a hard drive takes over to record the overflow.

User Experience: Lt. David Anthony of the Ennis (Texas) Police Department says that the WatchGuard DV-1 suited his agency’s needs because it didn’t require any changes in procedure. “The officers were used to checking out a VHS tape, putting it in the car, and dropping it in a secure drop box when it got full,” Anthony explains. “With the WatchGuard system, their daily interaction with the video system was not changed.”

The Ennis PD is considering the purchase of the WatchGuard Hybrid system so it can better organize its storage of the DVDs. But for now, Anthony says it doesn’t have any problems storing the DVDs and retrieving the files when needed. “Even if we get the Hybrid, we probably won’t download each disc into the server, just the metadata. We can use that to find the discs more easily,” he adds.

 

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