Why Body Cameras Are Not GoPros?

“Isn't it a GoPro?”

A question from a visitor at the Body Worn Camera (BWC) section of the Hytera booth during a tradeshow. He introduced himself as an editor from a mostly IT-centric publication and a GoPro owner. The conversation followed was an informative one in a light-mood fashion.

I found his question per se interesting. When a brand leads in the timing of entering the market, in a specific product category, the consumers tend to use this brand or trademark to refer to the complete genre of products. It’s good and bad for the brand owners. That's a different topic to explore.

“Yes, it's a GoPro.” BWCs should be OK with this hat when we broadly talk about them as wearable cameras, action cameras, action camcorders, and names of the like. However, that's surely not a right-sized/styled hat.

BWCs (also often referred to as body-worn Camera, body camera, and bodycam) and GoPros (DJI and Insta360 raising eyebrows on this representation) seem to do the same thing, recording audio and video in motion. However, they are essentially different.

Different (Nearly Opposite) Design Concepts

Nearly all the GoPros are heralding the lifestyle of living in the moments and sharing them. Therefore, besides capturing the scenes and activities, accessing and editing the recording, sharing it across devices such as smartphones and computers, and posting on social media pages are made as effortless as possible.

It is quite the opposite with BWCs. They are designed for use by law enforcement officers and other professionals such as security personnel, healthcare workers, and insurance claim inspectors during work hours. The recordings are not supposed to be accessed by people who wear the BWCs.

Protecting the recordings from body cameras is crucial to ensure their integrity, confidentiality, and availability for legitimate purposes. By implementing encryption, access controls, tamper detection, docking stations for data transfer, data anonymization, and other measures, agencies and organizations can effectively protect BWC recordings from unauthorized access, tampering, and misuse, ensuring that the data remains a reliable and secure resource for accountability and evidence.

While both body-worn cameras and GoPros are used to capture video, BWCs are specialized tools for professional use in law enforcement with a focus on accountability and evidence, whereas GoPros are versatile consumer devices designed for capturing high-quality action footage in a variety of settings.

Different Feature Sets

As lifestyle electronics, GoPros go far in capturing AWESOMENESS. As workplace devices, BWCs are expected to capture the ultimate TRUTHFULLNESS. Such a fundamental difference can be found in many details in hardware design, algorithms, and features. Here are a few of them.

· Optics: Sharpness of colors surely is not the primary performance index for BWCs. BWCs are optimized for recording in various lighting conditions, including low light or night-time environments, which are common in law enforcement operations. While both BWCs and GoPros feature wide-angle lenses, BWCs are specially designed to capture a broader field of view suitable for documenting interactions without distortion.

· Operation: Users of GoPros initiate the camera manually at the moment they want. Besides manual operation, some BWCs can be remotely operated by supervisors in the office, some can be triggered by the pulling of the gun from its holster.

· Feature/Functionality: Pre-event recording is just one example. Some BWCs can buffer and record a few seconds to minutes of footage before the camera is manually activated, capturing important context leading up to an incident. Some models with 4G or 5G modules work as mobile surveillance devices to complement the CCTV cameras and bring complete situational awareness to decision-makers in the control room.

Different Ecosystems

· Software: BWCs are required to seamlessly integrate with digital evidence management (DEM) systems, real-time stream to command centers, and be compatible with other law enforcement tools (e.g., CAD systems). In most cases, customized coding is required to ensure the operable system, especially when BWCs and DEM are from different vendors. With GoPros, pretty much all the major vendors offer one-stop software or app packages; and there are abundant third-party apps to choose from.

· Multi-purpose hardware: For professional users such as police, BWC is usually one of the multiple gadgets and tools they are required to take with them. The list might go as two-way radio and its speaker mic, PDA, gun, taser, handcuff, and other essential everyday carry (EDC). Taking one item off the list is a relief of burden. Some BWCs in the market are capable of working as a remote speaker microphone for the two-way radio, wirelessly or with a wire cord; some come with push-to-talk over cellular (PoC) feature and they might be able to replace the two-way radio.

· Regulation and policy: Regulations and policies governing the use of BWCs are essential to ensure their effective, ethical, and legal deployment. These guidelines cover various aspects, including when and how cameras should be used, data management, privacy considerations, and accountability measures. Since the use of BWC involves public interest and privacy, more governments and authorities have been making laws on it. By establishing clear and comprehensive regulations and policies, agencies can effectively manage the deployment of BWCs, ensuring they serve their intended purpose of enhancing transparency, accountability, and community trust while respecting legal and privacy concerns.

To answer the question: NO, BWCs are not GoPros.