MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. –-(Ammoland.com)- Viridian Weapon Technologies has announced that the Moody Police Department in Alabama will be the first department in the state of Alabama and among the first departments in the world to formally deploy Viridian’s FACT Duty Weapon-Mounted Cameras (WMC™). Last month, the Moody City Council voted to purchase and outfit all of the officers in the department with FACT Duty WMCs.
Viridian has created an important new category for law enforcement with the introduction of the FACT camera. This unique Weapon-Mounted Camera provides an unobstructed view of critical use-of-force events from the end of the firearm, addressing limitations officers can face with body cameras. The highly advanced WMC employs a 1080p full-HD digital camera with a microphone and 500 lumen tactical light. Viridian’s proprietary INSTANT-ON technology automatically activates the camera and microphone whenever the officer draws the firearm from its holster. Not only does this eliminate risk of failure to manually turn on the camera during a critical event, but it also keeps the officer from fumbling with cumbersome equipment.
FACT WMCs do not require the purchase of supplemental equipment or services and are designed exclusively to answer the needs of today’s officers. The WMCs fit on existing standard-issue firearms and fit seamlessly in multiple duty holster platforms. The cameras feature a battery life of over three hours to handle virtually any scenario. They also incorporate secured data access and are easily rechargeable.
Body and dash cameras were not designed to capture officer-involved shootings. However, Viridian WMCs were designed specifically for this purpose.
The WMC generates just a small fraction of the data to manage compared to other law enforcement recording options because it only records when the officer’s weapon is drawn. This results in significantly lower comparative data management costs.
“The Moody Police Department’s implementation of our WMC is an extremely important milestone,” said Viridian President and CEO Brian Hedeen. “This is a tremendous leap forward for policing. Current events point to the fact that body and dash cameras alone are inadequate, and because of this, nearly 200 police departments across the country are now in the process of testing and implementing FACT Duty WMCs in their departments. These WMCs provide an unfettered perspective for officer-involved shootings and other use-of-force incidents, and our products help show what really happened.”
More information on FACT Duty WMCs can be found at ViridianWeaponTech.com/FACT-Duty-Learn-More. Law enforcement agencies interested in signing up for test and evaluation programs or learning more about this product can contact [email protected].
Interviews, video/digital assets and additional information are also available by contacting [email protected].
About Viridian Weapon Technologies
Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Viridian Weapon Technologies is devoted to applying cutting-edge technology to design compact, powerful self-defense products for the civilian, military and law enforcement markets. Viridian® is the leader in weapon-mounted technology and responsible for a number of firearm innovations including green and red laser sights, LED weapon-mounted illuminators and several shooting accessories including the Tacloc® Holsters. Viridian products are designed and built in the USA. More information is available at www.ViridianWeaponTech.com.
Gun mounted camera would cause an officer to pull his gun and point it regardless what the circumstances he is faced with. That doesn’t seem logical in every instance and it may cause someone to scream “police brutality”.
Yeah, well, let’s see how prone they are to “malfunctions”.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=police+cameras+malfunction&ia=web
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150326/13541830455/state-legislators-pushing-bills-to-shield-police-officers-their-own-body-camera-recordings.shtml
https://mic.com/articles/133735/chicago-police-have-been-sabotaging-their-own-dashboard-cameras-on-purpose
There’s at least one downside; if the camera/gun is pointed in a safe direction, the criminal’s actions leading up to the shot are not recorded. This would encourage an officer to point his gun at people and things in order to record them for favorable litigation posterity. I know you can say that the body cam can do that, but would that mean that an officer should break cover or lower his gun from his chest just to record something? I suspect that these gun cam videos, in dynamic situations and not just on a safe shooting range, are going… Read more »
Joe, I agree, I was thinking along a similar line. I was also thinking about recoil and flash and how the firearm would only show one second or or less and at most, probably rarely, a few seconds, and as you stated, even with a stabilizer in the camera, a lot of motion. I can see the lens getting quite dirty just being in the holster all the time, and obviously shot residues obscuring it when it is fired. Another issue is if these officers unholster and unload their weapons once they are off-duty at home or to clean them,… Read more »