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What is a body camera?

A body camera is a small recorder worn on a vest, a shoulder or a helmet. It films the job from where the wearer is standing, and seals every file it makes. You will also see them called body-worn cameras, BWCs or bodycams.

Body camera with a belt clip standing on a stack of folded uniform shirts
The device

What is on the camera

The parts you can see, and what each one is for.

Body-worn camera with its lens, infrared lights, microphone, record button and sealed port marked
01

Lens

Records what the wearer is facing, wide enough to catch people off to one side.

02

Infrared lights

After dark the camera keeps recording, in black and white.

03

Microphone

Picks up sound as well as picture, which is often what settles an argument.

04

Record button

One press starts recording. On most models the seconds before it are saved too.

05

Sealed port and dock contacts

How footage leaves. Nothing in the range takes a memory card, so it goes out through the dock or a cable.

A photograph cannot show the battery, the storage sealed inside, or the mount on the back. Those are listed under key features.

In short

How a body camera works

From pressing record to a file you can find.

Close-up of the large round record button on the front of a body camera
01

It records

The wearer presses once. Picture, sound and the time go into sealed storage.

Underside of a body camera showing its sealed charging contacts
02

It locks the file

The file is stamped with the time, the unit and who signed the camera out.

Body cameras seated in a multi-bay docking station
03

It goes in the dock

At the end of duty the camera sits in a bay. Footage moves across and the battery fills.

An operator reviewing recorded footage on a monitor at a workstation
04

It becomes evidence

Once they are off the camera, recordings can be searched, attached to a case and shared through evidence management software.

Why bother

Why teams use body cameras

The reasons that come up most.

A body camera standing between two facing grey boards

Settle disputes

When two accounts do not agree, the footage is a third one.

An officer reviewing a single recording on a widescreen monitor

Answer complaints faster

Someone pulls up the recording instead of rebuilding the incident from statements.

A body camera, harness and hard hat on a wall at a floodlit site at night

Cover people working alone

Lone and after-hours work goes on the record. Some models let base watch live.

An operator scanning a grid of twelve recorded camera views

Keep one searchable record

Months later the file is still in one place, and still easy to find.

Not the same thing

How it differs from other cameras

The cameras it gets confused with.

A body camera standing on a folded navy uniform

Body camera

SeesWhat the wearer faces

Started byThe wearer, one press

Can be editedNo, storage is sealed

Ends upA dock, then your server

Made forBeing worn on duty

An action camera on a quick-release mount beside a memory card

Action camera

SeesWhatever it is strapped to

Started byThe wearer, one press

Can be editedYes, it sits on a card

Ends upA card, then anywhere

Made forSport and hobby

A white dome CCTV camera with its cable

CCTV

SeesOne fixed view

Started byNobody, it runs on

Can be editedDepends on the recorder

Ends upA recorder on site

Made forWatching one area

A dash camera with its windscreen mount, a memory card and a 12V plug

Dash camera

SeesThe road ahead

Started byThe ignition

Can be editedUsually yes, on a card

Ends upA card or fleet server

Made forA journey and a collision

On the job

Who wears a body camera

Common questions

Short answers to what people ask first.

No. Offline units record to encrypted internal storage and transfer everything when they are docked, with no connectivity required at any point.

Across the range we supply, published continuous recording runs from 9 to 12 hours on one charge, and 13 hours on the helmet unit, which carries a detachable second cell.

1080p is the working floor. Across the range we supply, recording runs from 1280 x 720 up to 4K.

No. Footage is written to storage the wearer has no write access to, and every file carries the operator ID and a tamper-evident timestamp.

There are more answers on the FAQ page.

Body Camera Models

Two ways to deploy. Browse below.

Request a Demonstration

Tell us where the cameras will be deployed and we will arrange a demonstration with the right models for your sector.

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