Richard's Fashion Statement

When I Wrote This Blog it Was Double-Secret

I just re-discovered it in February 2025 and decided that since 15 years had passed, it doesn't even need to be single-secret any more. It could be re-titled "Blogger Invents Police Body Cam" which wouldn't be far off. (Note the date of the blog and ask Google when the bodycam came into use.) Also note that the Richard below is wearing glasses, which he no longer does. He remains the poster child for cataract surgery!

Other than some name redactions this is the exact blog written on the date indicated, still missing the NP and TotD.

This special, un-indexed blog is for colleagues only.  Please don't give out the URL!  Before continuing, read these two blogs in sequence:

28 March - Crimebutton Thoughtex

30 March - Thoughtex part 2

OK?

As I was thinking about this even more, I realized that I may be serious.  Not only serious about the fact that it can be done, but serious about the fact that WE can do it, probably with some help.  The first group of people who would be interested in using this sort of thing would be police and other public safety agencies.  Do we know anyone who sells recording equipment to such organizations? 

As N... was leaving tonight, I mentioned it to him.  His first comment was about the weight.  I pointed out that the camera(s), memory card, and microphones are as close to weightless as matter.  (And of course we know people who make weightless microphones, right?)  It's only the battery that makes it "heavy."  But, heads weigh 10 pounds, cellphone batteries a few ounces.  So I decided to make a fashion statement:

		Now here's the interesting thing.  I've been wearing this contraption for less than 15 minutes, and I've "forgotten it's there."

Certainly the weight itself is a negligible percentage of that of one's capital unit.  It probably weighs less than a uniform hat.  And the two batteries are there for balance.  I imagine the capacity of one would be more than sufficient to keep the thing running for a shift or two.

This design is more a packaging exercise than one in electronics design, which should be pretty simple.  Is it something we could set J... loose on? 

Marketing

N... thinks the cops won't like it, but they already have cameras in their cars (which presumably, they also don't like).  It seems to me that if the department provides a recording frame with prescription lenses, they'd be entitled to require that cops wear them on duty.

Other than the (not required but desirable) stereo recording, it doesn't do anything that cellphones don't do already.  Adjustable frames and cellphone-minus-phone electronics shouldn't cost more than $200, plus another $50-100 for prescription lenses.  Selling price $999 should be doable, and much less if mass produced.  Given that prescription glasses cost $hundreds already, it's a bargain.  The "infrastructure" could be either a PC or, of course, an Atlas series recorder with a special connector/charger accessory that could handle a number of units at once.

Of course this is all off the top of my head.  Perhaps there's a fatal psychological flaw if not an electronic one, and perhaps someone already makes this.  As always, I'd rather speculate than do research.  Anyway, isn't it time to do something new?

Follow-Up 15 April 2009 - Look What I Found

See the very bottom of this blogitem.  Clearly I need a memory device to remind me of my memory devices.

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