SJPD To Be First In Nation With Uniform Cameras

Dashcam footage is something most people are aware of, due to the proliferation of reality TV shows with that sort of footage. Sometimes, however, the action drifts off camera, and this development, the first in the nation, aims to fix that.

The San Jose (CA) Police Department is becoming the first in the nation to try new uniform cameras. The cameras, developed by Taser International, are being provided free to the SJPD for the first year, for being part of the trial.

This sort of footage would have been particularly handy for the SJPD recently. Cellphone footage appears to show unnecessary beating of an unarmed suspect in a recent incident. The SJPD has said both that the video is too grainy, and that it does not show the "full story."

Axon, as it is called, runs in buffering mode, until a button is pressed. At that point, the last 30 seconds of footage is saved and the recording begins. 72 SJPD officers will be outfitted with the camera. The cameras will be deployed in the middle of November.

Watch a video report from late last month below: