I was involved in a discussion with some guys about the Ferguson riots. One issue the police encountered were threats shooting handguns/shotguns(luckily no rifles yet) at LE from a distance of 100-150yds. LE has not had the ability to ID a threat and gain enough target isolation to engage so they have not returned fire at all.
One concern that I had for a situation like this is that if a shooter made a shot and dropped the threat it does not seem that police would be able to get to that spot and secure the scene in a timely manner. I would almost guarantee that the weapon would disappear and now story is that the police shot another "unarmed" person.
We have pole cameras that would be deployed in such a situation, but there is no guarantee they would be aimed in on the same spot as the sniper/spotter team. I am looking into the possibility of adding video capability to my team for such a circumstance and because it would be helpful for both tactical, investigative, and liability reasons to video some of our normal callouts. Entry has body cams and so does patrol and I really like having it. I am thinking that piggybacking anything on the weapon is not going to be desirable so I am looking at other options. Just to give a parameter I would like to be able to positive ID weapons from 20 out to 300yds in low light conditions(not dark, think lighted city street). I am not sure if there is a stand alone video recorder that would be capable of this or if something piggybacked on a spotter would be better. Durability/weather resistance will be an issue as well as the ability to work in the cold.
So, what says the group?
One concern that I had for a situation like this is that if a shooter made a shot and dropped the threat it does not seem that police would be able to get to that spot and secure the scene in a timely manner. I would almost guarantee that the weapon would disappear and now story is that the police shot another "unarmed" person.
We have pole cameras that would be deployed in such a situation, but there is no guarantee they would be aimed in on the same spot as the sniper/spotter team. I am looking into the possibility of adding video capability to my team for such a circumstance and because it would be helpful for both tactical, investigative, and liability reasons to video some of our normal callouts. Entry has body cams and so does patrol and I really like having it. I am thinking that piggybacking anything on the weapon is not going to be desirable so I am looking at other options. Just to give a parameter I would like to be able to positive ID weapons from 20 out to 300yds in low light conditions(not dark, think lighted city street). I am not sure if there is a stand alone video recorder that would be capable of this or if something piggybacked on a spotter would be better. Durability/weather resistance will be an issue as well as the ability to work in the cold.
So, what says the group?
