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Gordonsville police Officer E. M. Shifflett created the wireless camera system--which includes Mounted in a Gordonsville police patrol car, the camera system displays four different views. |
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.
"It's a wonderful tool for law enforcement and prosecution," she said during a demonstration of the camera system last week. "It can resolve any question about defendants' guilt or police behavior.
"Most importantly, it can influence defendants and their attorneys about pleas in drunken-driving and domestic-abuse cases."
Flamini calls his camera and taping system "4Sight" and he is certain they will change the face of law enforcement.
The system will cost between $6,000 and $6,500, Flamini said. Standard one-camera systems now in use cost between $4,500 and $7,500, depending on whether they are digital or analog.
His shirt-pocket camera runs on a one-hour battery, but uses battery power only when the system is turned on.
The VCR is stored in a lock box in the patrol car's trunk, and access can be controlled by either the officer or his supervisor. That will be determined by each police department.
A test model has been in use in Gordonsville for three weeks. The first production model will be installed in a second Gordonsville police car this week, Flamini said.
After that, he plans to market the system through his company, The Esoteric Group.
To reach ROBIN KNEPPER: rknepper@earthlink.net
