Police Wearing Sunglass-Camera

choi

Randall Stross, Wearing a Badge, and a Video Camera. New York Times, Apr 7, 2013.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/0 ... olice-officers.html

Quote:

"Now, some police departments are using miniaturized video cameras and their microphones to capture, in full detail, officers’ interactions with civilians. The cameras are so small that they can be attached to a collar, a cap or even to the side of an officer’s sunglasses. High-capacity battery packs can last for an extended shift. And all of the videos are uploaded automatically to a central server that serves as a kind of digital evidence locker.

The cameras are "made by Taser International. Whenever officers wear the cameras, they are expected to activate them when they leave the patrol car to speak with a civilian. A convenient feature of the camera is its 'pre-event video buffer,' which continuously records and holds the most recent 30 seconds of video when the camera is off. In this way, the initial activity that prompts the officer to turn on the camera is more likely to be captured automatically, too. [That is, the camera retains the 30 seconds of video and sounds that has been recorded BEFORE an officer pushes the start button.]

Note:
(a) Massachusetts Recording Law. Digital Media Law Project, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University, undated
http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/massachusetts-recording-law
(As far as voice--but not images--is concerned, "Massachusetts's wiretapping law often referred to is a 'two-party consent' law. * * * This law applies to secret video recording when sound is captured")
(b) That is why when one makes a phone call in Massachusetts to 911 or a utility company for example, the other side has to first tell him the phone call is recorded in order to record the conversation.
(c) The highest state court of Massachusetts ruled that one does not violate state wiretapping law, as long as the other party (or parties) know the recorder is recording it (by holding up a cell phone when in person)--there is no need for the recorded to give a formal consent.
(d) Federal law is "two-party consent." That is why Ms Linda Tripp secretly her phone conversation with Ms Monica Lewinsky (discussing the latter's affairs with then president Bill Clinton), the recording was admitted as evidece in federal cases (special prosecutor Ken Starr's investigation of Clinton and Ms Paula Jones' civil action against Clinton for sexual advances)
recorded--but the state of Maryland (where recording was made), also a "two-party consent' state, indicted Ms Tripp in 1999.
Linda Tripp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Tripp
(section 2.1 Indictment by the state of Maryland: indictment dismissed in 2000)
(e) In the home page of Taser International
http://www.taser.com
, in the pull-down menu find "Axon Flex" for the sunglass-camera.