NYPD pulls thousands of body cameras from streets after cop's explodes

[Calista241]

Source: CNET

The New York Police Department removed thousands of officers' body cameras Sunday after one cop's camera exploded.

The Staten Island officer was on duty around midnight Sunday when the Vievu LE-5 camera started to smoke, the department wrote.

The police officer quickly removed the device, which then exploded on the ground. No one was injured, the department said.

The NYPD statement pointed to the camera's battery as a possible source of the problem, and said that the cause and scope of the defect are being investigated.

"All officers assigned LE-5 cameras were instructed to immediately remove the cameras and bring them back to their commands," the department said in its statement.

Read more: https://www.cnet.com/news/nypd-pulls-thousands-of-body-cameras-from-streets-after-cops-explodes/

[Merlot]

1. Smoking is not legal in that area.

The camera was "resisting arrest" and the officer, after punching it, shot it.

There will be no film at 11.

[apnu]

2. Bad batteries?

Some batteries, in certain conditions, can smoke and explode. Most cell phone batteries can do this.

[CTyankee]

11. An unattached Garmin blew up my car one night (thank god) as I slept.

It had a certain Lithium battery that was known to explode. The back seat had a huge hole in it which was where the unattached Garmin was.

[matt819]

3. Any other cynics here

who see something more nefarious?

What a brilliant way to get rid of body cameras.

If they are in fact faulty, who's behind the contract? Bid/no bid? Low bid/low quality? Cui bono? Both in the NYPD and the contractors.

These days we are sadly well beyond taking anything at face value.

[melm00se]

4. Contract info

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/13/nyregion/new-york-police-body-cameras.html?module=inline

Camera company
http://www.vievu.com/

They are a division of Safariland

Their bid was, according the WSJ, one-third the amount of its closest competitor.

Multiple news outlets indicated that this contract was under investigation as of late 2016 - early 2017.

[matt819]

7. Thanks.

I just searched the NYT site for Safariland and Vievu.

Only one story since the one you linked to. So, nothing reported since Feb 2017.

Very low bid. Startup company (though purchased by a large corporation in business for more than 50 years). It's unclear whether that $6.4 million contract was for an initial 1,000 cameras, or for 5,000 cameras. It's interesting/odd that there were no reports, at least in the NYT, on the deployment and use of the cameras, whether they meet the 2013 federal mandate, etc. No interest? No whistleblower? And why no nagging by Taser for expediting the investigation, etc.

As I noted in my first post, the cynic in me is still screaming that something smells. I'm reminded of that 9-figure contract initially awarded to a 2-man startup in Montana in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

[melm00se]

8. Having done government business in the past

I know that companies will make a strategic pricing move (at or below cost) to secure a high profile customer that they can use and say "see? we got an award from ______ so you should do business with us!".

Winning a bid the profile of the NYPD can really help a business kickstart their operations especially if they have VC money behind them. Take a 40-50-60% loss with a $6.4M win but that generate $30 million in new business at 30% margins...smart move.

Unfortunately, something like exploding batteries could really do a number on future sales.

[matt819]

10. Well

It seems that the parent company could sustain the loss.

The larger problem these days is that no one seems to pay a price for this sort of thing. So, they sustain the loss of the $6 million. Will they pay a penalty on top of that? Will anyone take a closer look at their other NYPD contracts? Will they even lose the opportunity to bid on the larger contract of providing tens of thousands of body cameras?

I know I’m beating a dead horse, but this irks me. And I doubt will ever see how it plays out. This is all going to be handled behind closed doors, and, as we’ve seen over the past few years, memories are short.

[zonkers]

5. This NYers first thought exactly. And the cop was "Staten Island". Maybe the camera was selling

loosies and the cop put it in a choke hold.

[demigoddess]

6. +1

That was what popped into my mind. They caught too many cops doing bad things.

[stuffmatters]

9. My immediare thought. Especially since it was in (RW)Staten Island