Osaka police to trial bodycams, sometimes on the side of their heads

To serve and protect and vlog.

Body cameras have become widely used by police forces in various countries, both as a way to secure evidence and provide transparency. The trend has yet to catch on with Japanese police, but that may soon change with a trial program set to take place in Osaka from 1 September.

13 members of the Mobile Patrol Unit of the Abeno Police Department’s Community Affairs Division will be given cameras for the purposes of evidence gathering and verifying the appropriateness of police conduct in the event of complaints. The First Security Division will employ three cameras as a way to understand real-time crowd levels for the purpose of crowd control.

There are three types of cameras that can be worn on the head or chest. The chest cameras come in small and large versions, and officers wearing them will also either have an armband or other marking to clearly indicate that they are recording. Video will not be recorded on private property to protect privacy, and all footage will be deleted after a certain period of time.

▼ The chest cameras seem similar to those used by police in other countries, but that cap-mounted one is a little jarring.

Even those of us innocent of any wrongdoing can sometimes tense up around the police, and I’m not sure making them look more like a cyborg will help with that.

▼ Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Osaka Prefectural Police

Readers of the news online were also largely distracted by the big head-mounted camera, but were divided over whether it was cool or cumbersome.

“I’m not sure how well you can chase criminals with that thing on your head.”
“Cybersideburns.”
“I think the head camera is no good because the officer can point it anywhere they want.”
“We don’t have gunfights like in the U.S.A., but it’s a good visible deterrent.”
“Those look really big. Can’t they make them more wearable?”
“They’re probably intentionally big, so everyone knows they have cameras.”
“They look hard to wear in the summer.”
“They should wear a visor-type camera.”
“They’re like the head vulcans from Gundam.”
“I like the bigger ones because they look cooler.”
“I guess it’s better to have them than not to have them.”

Well, it certainly sounds like the public is enthusiastic about these cameras. This trial is a part of a model project by the National Police Agency of Japan, so similar ones might be held in other parts of the country down the road as well.

So, if you see someone with a big hunk of plastic and metal sticking out of their head out on the street, remember to say hi, because it’s just your friendly neighborhood patrolman. Well, maybe take a good look first, because it might also be a Predator.

Source: Yomiuri Shimbun Online, Golden Times
Featured image: Pakutaso
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