MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – October 1, 2018 – Viridian Weapon Technologies announces that the Catasauqua Police Department, located just outside of Allentown, Pennsylvania, has deployed the FACT Duty™ Weapon-Mounted Camera (WMC™). Viridian and Catasauqua will hold a joint press conference to discuss this milestone on Tuesday, October 2 at 10:00 a.m. at the Borough of Catasauqua Municipal Complex, 90 Bridge Street, Catasauqua, Pennsylvania 18032.
The FACT Duty fits officer weapons and holsters and records automatically, providing an unobstructed view from the end of an officer’s firearm. The need for this product continues to be validated in current events throughout the United States.
“The transparency and ease of implementation helped us choose this solution,” said Catasauqua Chief of Police Douglas Kish. “A department of our size has a surprisingly large number of interactions with the public. The FACT Duty WMC allows us the coverage for a possible (and rare) Officer Involved Shooting without huge overhead costs or recurring payment requirements.”
Viridian has created an important new category for law enforcement with the introduction of the FACT camera. This unique Weapon-Mounted Camera provides an unobstructed view of critical use-of-force events from the end of the firearm, addressing limitations officers can face with body cameras. The highly advanced WMC employs a 1080p full-HD digital camera with a microphone and 500 lumen tactical light. Viridian’s proprietary INSTANT-ON® technology automatically activates the camera and microphone whenever the officer draws the firearm from its holster. Not only does this eliminate risk of failure to manually turn on the camera during a critical event, but it also keeps the officer from fumbling with cumbersome equipment.
“Catasauqua becomes the first department in Pennsylvania to implement our FACT Duty Weapon-Mounted Camera,” said Viridian President and CEO Brian Hedeen. “Current events point to the fact that body and dash cameras alone are inadequate. More than 300 police departments around the country are in the process of testing and implementing FACT Duty WMCs. We’re seeing more and more departments choose our products and I think that is because our WMCs provide an unfettered perspective for officer-involved shootings and other use-of-force incidents, and our products help show what really happened.”
Easy Implementation
FACT WMCs do not require the purchase of supplemental equipment or services and are designed exclusively to answer the needs of today’s officers. The WMC generates just a small fraction of the data to manage compared to other law enforcement recording options because it only records when the officer’s weapon is drawn. This results in significantly lower comparative data management costs. The WMCs fit on existing standard-issue firearms and fit seamlessly in multiple duty holster platforms. The cameras feature a recording time of over three hours to handle virtually any scenario. They also incorporate secured data access and are easily rechargeable.
Body and dash cameras were not designed to capture officer-involved shootings. However, Viridian WMCs were designed specifically for this purpose.
Category Creation and Importance Today
The need for this technology was recognized several years ago. While the product was in development, events continued to unfold that only increased the urgency for Weapon-Mounted Cameras for police officers across America. Pennsylvania has been in the spotlight for these events. From the David Jones shooting in Philadelphia in 2016 to the Antwon Rose II shooting in Pittsburgh this past summer, these tragic events illustrate outrage that occurs partially from a lack of information to determine what happened. These events are the source of massive protests and community disruption.
“As we closely monitor these events around the country along with the aftermath when affected parties do not believe justice was served, we realize that our solution cannot be implemented soon enough by more departments,” said Matthew Plowman, General Counsel at Viridian. “Much of the controversy in so many past incidents and trials was what the officer saw when pulling the trigger. The FACT Duty is a tool to provide objective evidence, both for potential legal proceedings and in helping the community understand what happened. Our WMC also aids police communication to the general public to help eliminate the uncertainty in officer-involved shootings that is the source of much conflict.”
More information on FACT Duty WMCs can be found at ViridianWeaponTech.com/FACT-Duty-Learn-More.