A startup company in Silicon Valley has developed a bluetooth based technology that would send real time reports back to dispatchers, when an officer had taken their gun out of their holster and when that gun was fired.
Yardarm Technologies promises a technology that:
Geo-Location – Event based location awareness and history for real-time alerts and post crime scene review and analysis
Holster/Unholster – When an officer unholsters his weapon, dispatch can be immediately notified and officers in the field can see when and where a colleague may require assistance
Discharge – There is no more critical event in the field than an officer discharging their weapon. Alerts are immediately sent to dispatch and can be sent to a commander directly via mobile alerts
The idea would be for dispatchers to have the real time data to help police officers in the field when they may not be able to call in backup, etc. This is important stuff. Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak told AP:
Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak, whose agency is among two testing the technology, said it will allow the sheriff's office to see whether deputies are in trouble and unable to ask for assistance.
"That's the worst nightmare for any police officer in the field," he said.
This technology also claims to be able to:
Direction of Fire/Aim – Track and record the direction of aim, providing real-time tactical value for commanders and providing crime scene investigators valuable data for prosecution
That "valuable data" would be important information to have in all cases. It may help to clear up the dichotomies of autopsy analysis as well as crime scene interpretation.
There's video under the fold.
B_Roll_YardArm.mp4 from Jim Schaff on Vimeo.