Body camera tech advances pose challenges for risk managers
Reprints
INDIANAPOLIS — Advances in body camera technology pose a challenge to risk managers and public entities in terms of how to deploy such tools and manage the policies for implementation, according to speakers Wednesday at the Public Risk Management Association’s annual conference in Indianapolis.
“It’s a challenge for police to keep up with the new technologies,” said Samuel C. Hall, a shareholder at Crivello Carlson S.C. law firm in Chicago.
One emerging technology for body cameras is automatic activation, which turns on the camera when an officer unholsters a weapon, typically a gun or taser.
“They can set this up so that every officer within a quarter-mile radius has their cameras turned on,” Mr. Hall said.
The technology is not without its potential drawbacks, said Richard Spiers, a claim executive in the reinsurance and excess marketplace for three decades.
“There’s some pretty significant privacy issues” related to the deployment of automatic activation, Mr. Spiers said. He described one scenario in which one officer might be using a restroom when another officer has an incident, activating nearby body cameras.
The storage of body camera footage, where and for how long, is also an issue, the speakers said, with Mr. Hall pointing out that storage has gotten less expensive, which could make it more accessible to a greater number of users.
“These are the things that need to be covered in policy,” Mr. Spiers said. “If you don’t have a policy and you just wait to ad-hoc it when something comes up, I think you’re asking for trouble.”
Technological advances for body cameras “open up a Pandora’s box,” Mr. Spiers said. “The more things you can get into policy and say, ‘This is how we’re going to handle this,” the better, he added.
Read Next
-
Communication is key to successful risk management: PRIMA speaker
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Clear and honest communication is the underpinning of successful risk management, one of the speakers at the Public Risk Management Association’s 2014 Annual Conference said Monday.
Related Stories
-
Communication is key to successful risk management: PRIMA speaker
-
Terrorism, catastrophes, tech drive risk management changes: Former PRIMA leaders
