New blog post Samsung highlights how its Galaxy Z Flip series devices have been received by law enforcement agencies. The line of foldable mobile devices was part of a pilot program two years ago at Kimberling City Police and Indian Point Police in Missouri to test how electronics could improve the force’s day-to-day operations. According to Samsung, the app is the first time a foldable device has been used by police as a body camera. After the pilot program ended, two more police departments signed on to use the Flip devices as body cameras. Solutions from these pilot tests are being rolled out to 25 metro police departments in five states.
The Flip devices used for police testing were customized in collaboration with Visual Labs, a company that uses mobile devices to act as body and dash cameras. According to Samsung, modifications like changing the volume button to launch the camera are intended to make it easier and faster to start recording in the field.
This is a surprising use case for Samsung to highlight for its US audience. The Verge picked up and quickly quoted in his blog post investigation from ProPublica and The New York Times It demonstrated how local policies can negate the positive value of body cameras, either delaying or preventing the release of footage.
However, Samsung is hardly the only tech company involved in making its products part of law enforcement. Amazon-owned smart doorbell company Ring (and turned upside down) policies on how and what footage to share with officers. There are still plenty of stories about how law enforcement is using technologies like facial recognition and drones.
