Police Dash Cams

[Byr0n]

Was just thinking randomly tonight after seeing one of those police chase programs on TV.. what type of cameras do the police use? Do they use a form of dash cam or are they actual video recorder systems?

 

[jokiin]

It varies a lot, there's no real standard they all use

 

[Johny]

And I keep hearing from others that they have good video quality but on purpose degrade video when releasing it to public. Just some rumors, but logically it may be true because if a consumer can get a decent quality with $50-75 camera then definitely so can they.

 

[Byr0n]

Just wondered thats all, some of the footage from over 10/12 years ago is rough but still good considering the age. How technology is evolving..

 

[jokiin]

Some police cars here in Australia use a system that cost around 8k, others are using regular dashcams that cost a few hundred dollars

 

[Johny]

I just noticed that when news channel show police dashcam video it looks washed out and blurry.

 

[jokiin]

I just noticed that when news channel show police dashcam video it looks washed out and blurry.

I've seen news reports where they were given good 1080p video and they've shown it as something that looks like your typical bigfoot sighting, I don't know what they do with it to make it so bad sometimes

 

[extraoneya]

...........snip...... they've shown it as something that looks like your typical bigfoot sighting,.............snip.......

What a unlucky break, don't u think?....here the guy sees an historic, once-in-a-lifetime creature, unknown to anyone in the world but himself, & all he can shoot is a blurry movie of it!....man!....that would sure p___ me off!

 

[mcaf123]

I was just watching Police Interceptors (Channel 5, UK) last night and they had an unmarked truck they use to see if truckers are breaking the law by watching films or whatever in their cabs and they were using the top model Roadhawk dash cams

 

[Johny]

Must be custom made with optical zoom from drones. Lol

 

[Xybone]

I've seen a picture of one once. It's was a video camera with a suction cup on it. Also the video they shoot is so blurry is because sometimes the cameras are really old (think 199X-200X old) and they can't take the film off the VHS , so they record the video off a screen.

 

[DashCamMan]

In Toronto, the police use Panasonic Arbitrator dash cams.
http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/incarcamera/
These are 480p cameras and quite large. However, I just noticed that the latest Panasonic Arbitrator cameras are 1080p.

York Region police (just north of Toronto) is using the same system. They launched it a couple of years ago and this video has some sample clips.

 

[ukspeedtraps]

Most of the cameras used in the UK by the police are quite low res, PROVIDA are one of the main suppliers and they are not more than standard VGA, South Yorkshire police are trying 1080p dashcam and were quite shocked how much better they were. They have now had several successful prosecutions using the dashcams as well. The other factor is £200 compared to £5000.

Other police forces are looking at £200 dashcams as well, they offer great value for money and allow them to use cameras in more cars.

 

[kamkar]

I was thinking some UK cop cars must have a good cam since they are caple of reading licence plates on the fly and compare them to a database of stolen plates - non mot plates and non Insurance cars.

But then Again i have allso seen cctv cameras beeing more than cable to snap up licenceplates on care passing by.

 

[ukspeedtraps]

They have dedicated ANPR cameras, they are not the same as standard cameras as they use the IR spectrum along side high end cameras.

You also have to remember they don't use small wide angle lenses as do dashcams some of the systems we have supplied have small zoom lenses but they still record at a low res.

 

[Jazzist]

I think that system (ANPR) just reads plates and doesn't record driving footage. I may be wrong, I'd have to Google...

The roadhawks on the truck will be separate to the anpr for example