Tachyon: Tough Tactical Cameras

Tachyon, Inc. are the leading manufacturers of tough tactical cameras. Cameras are not only tough, but cost-efficient.  They are all built with the needs and budgets of law enforcement in mind.  

All cameras from Tachyon, Inc. are wide-angle, date & Time-stamped HD videos.  These have numerous benefits for your department:

• Increased Professionalism - Knowing that their actions can easily be reviewed because they were recorded, officers tend to be more likely to strictly adhere to the rules and regulations set forth by their department.  No one wants to be the spoof video of what not to do used in training classes.
• Training - As just mentioned, those videos of what to do and what no to do come from somewhere.  And there is no better way to teach new officers how to appropriately approach and interact with a subject than actual footage that shows what can happen in the field.
• Officer Safety - Officer safety is two-fold.  By recording incidents as they occur, officers are protected against false claims of overly-assertive force or even abuse.  The cameras also record assaults taken against police officers.  

There are night vision cameras with invisible IR light that are also must-have gear for tactical units, Four-hour plus video recording time and a rechargeable battery meets every policeman's need. 

The Dash Cam plugs into the cruiser's 12V outlet, ensuring that the camera never run out of power. Compatible with 64GB memory cards, you can save up 20 hours of video before they begin to overwrite older footage.

Tachyon, Inc. is currently offering an amazing promotion where you can try their cameras free of charge!  To utilize this promotion, 

1. Put the items that you want in your cart
2. Fill in your information (be sure to use the department's information)
3. Click the "Test & Evaluate (No Payment Needed)" button

adding to your cart, checking out, and filling out your information be sure to click on the "Test & Evaluate (No Payment Needed)" button.

Philadelphia PD Launches Real-Time Crime Center

The Philadelphia Police Department has recently made a major technological change in their policing.  They are now one of the ten police departments in the United States with a Real-Time Crime Center.  The Real-Time Crime Center is a 24-hour hub of video surveillance, databases and various other resources.

The center has been in the works for nearly four years, and has been in the planning stages for the last two.  As of last month, it is now up and running 24-hours a day.  The center collects surveillance camera data from throughout the city.  Officers in the center can see all of the video as well as are alerted to any 911 calls that are placed.  This gives them the ability to pull up camera images in real-time during the crime (or emergency).  This allows them to give officers in the field immediate pertinent information regarding the suspects' location and description.  

Along with using the city's surveillance system, the Real-Time Crime Center also has access to all of the SEPTA cameras.  Private residents are able to register their cameras as well through a program called SafeCam.  By registering your private surveillance cameras (of your home or business), the Philadelphia Police Department is aware that you may have captured evidence of a crime based on the location of your cameras.  According to the SafeCam website, you will only be contacted by the police department for footage in the event that it is likely you captured evidence.  Private citizens have the right to terminate their registration in this program at any time.

The center is also running automated license plate software.  Utilizing infrared light, the scanners are able to scan upwards of 400,000 plates per week.  Scanners work on vehicles traveling at speeds upwards of 140mph.  In the month that these scanners have been operational, the department has been able to recover 50 vehicles that had been reported stolen.

The center is still not 100% operational.  They are still in the process of developing a major database that will contain information on incidents, criminal complaints, arrest records and photographs, parole and probation databases, national crime databases, and crime mapping systems. Currently, navigating all of those databases can take officers 30 minutes or more.  Once the crime center's combined database is up and running, a thorough search of those databases should take online minutes.

To see how the Real-Time Crime Center works, check out this video from the NYPD.  They were the first city to develop a Real-Time Crime Center, and it made a significant impact on the crime rates in their city.

Even Dash-Cameras Are Going HD

A European research firm is pretty certain that the next version of dashboard-camera systems are going to be in HD.  The reasoning behind their findings is that as HD technology becomes more commonplace, the cost of manufacturing such cameras also continues to decrease dramatically.  Because of the significant decrease in manufacturing costs, it becomes affordable to begin marketing them towards police agencies throughout the world.

Currently, HD cameras make up less than 15 percent of all mobile video surveillance systems in the United States.  This is probably because of the fact that there is currently only one HD video surveillance system designed for use inside police cruisers.  That manufacturer is WatchGuard Video.  It is believed that due there will most likely be an increase in available vendors during 2012.

Most departments already have an dashboard camera system in their vehicles, and they probably don't see the point in making the upgrade.  However, it is definitely something that should be considered, as the quality of images recorded is significantly improved in comparison to the older model cameras most departments are still utilizing.

Standard In-Car Dash Camera

WatchGuard HD In-Car Dash Camera

The downside to the better quality is that it will also most likely mean a required upgrade in the mobile computers used in the police cruisers.  HD video requires significantly more storage space than standard video, meaning that departments would either need to upgrade their entire computer system or all of their hard drives.

 See what real officers have to say about WatchGuard video.