City of Clare Police Department, Michigan, USA

Clare is a small city in the US state of Michigan. The City of Clare Police Department has been trialling Reveal RS1-SX body cameras and Digital Evidence Management Software (DEMS) since January 2014.

Officer John Pedjac has been running the trial, and spoke with us about his findings so far.

What has the City of Clare Police Dept been trying to achieve with body worn video?

In 2007, we had officers involved in a self-defense shooting. It was that incident that led us to look into getting body cameras so that we could record evidence from the officer’s point of view.

We tried a few others but couldn’t find one we liked, then we came across Reveal, and we really like your cameras.

Has body worn video worked for you?

Body cameras are definitely a good idea. We’ve noticed a reduction in complaints against officers, and a reduction in time our officers spend in court.

Body cameras are also a real help in building community relations.

About the cameras themselves - how have you found them?

There’s a lot about the cameras we really like. They’re incredibly simple to use. They’re tough. They’ve got a great wide angle view. They have multiple uniform mounting options. They don’t have enhanced night vision so they record exactly what the officer sees when it’s dark or whatever. Also, it's nice that there are no wires to get tangled up in or to go bad by being flexed all of the time like some of the other cameras we tried.

How have you found working with our digital evidence management system, DEMS?

I like it. I particularly like how the video uploads automatically from the camera. And it’s easy to burn evidence to disc when you need to.

Have you tried any other body cameras? How do Reveal cameras compare?

Yes we have. And so have other police departments in this area.

We’re the only ones using Reveal. And we’re the only ones who are happy!