Gordonsville police Officer E. M. Shifflett created the wireless camera system--which includes a tiny lens that can be worn on an officer's shirt pocket--to better record police work. van View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

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Caught by the cameras

Gordonsville policeman creates camera system to record what police, suspects do

By ROBIN KNEPPER

Date published: 11/3/2003

Officer's invention videotapes police work

Four tiny cameras, three in his cruiser and one in his shirt pocket, catch on videotape everything the police officer sees and hears. A videocassette recorder in the trunk records all the images and sounds.

What better way to show exactly what happens when an officer stops a car or answers a call?

Gordonsville police officer Joe Flamini, the town's technical-support officer and a longtime electrical engineer, invented the unique camera and recording system and has donated the first two systems to his own department.

Two cigar-shaped cameras are mounted on the inside roof of the cruiser, in front of the sun visors. One has a wide-angle lens that offers a sweeping view of the scene in front of the patrol car.

The second has a zoom lens that is generally positioned to record the license-plate information of the car in front. A third, smaller camera is placed on the inside roof above the back-seat door to record everything that happens in "the cage" in the rear seat, where officers place those they arrest.

But it's the tiny camera, about 1 inch square, attached to a battery and worn on the police officer's shirt pocket, that is the most remarkable part of this quartet of videotape technology.

The camera's pinhole lens captures most of what the officer sees and hears when he is responding to a complaint. The tiny color camera also transmits audio to the VCR in the cruiser's trunk.

All the images are shown in real time on a split-screen LCD monitor mounted on the dashboard of the patrol car.

Flamini explains that the system is not used for surveillance.

"It only sees what the officer sees and hears what the officer hears," he said. "This is a great tool for officer safety, and helps capture an accurate portrayal of true events, whether it's at a traffic stop, a domestic incident or another type of disturbance.

"The officer can appear in court, pull out a tape and say, 'Here is what happened.'"

Acting Orange County Commonwealth's Attorney Anne Joseph agrees.

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Date published: 11/3/2003