Samsung, via its US blog, has highlighted a unique application of its Galaxy Z Flip series as a body-worn camera for police officers. According to the company, the pilot programme for this initiative began two years ago with the Kimberling City Police and Indian Point Police in Missouri.
These departments tested the use of Samsung’s compact foldables, from the Galaxy Z Flip3 to the Z Flip5, to enhance their daily operations by leveraging the line-up’s compact and lightweight design, making it a practical choice as a body-worn camera. The programme was later expanded to include the San Benito and Craighead County Sheriff’s departments, with plans for even more from other states to be added down the line.
Samsung claims that the Galaxy Z Flip series’ streamlines evidence gathering, enhances transparency, and simplifies officers’ workflows by consolidating multiple tools into one. This is owed to its ability to function as a digital camera, audio recorder, GPS tracker, and communication device, all while supporting agency-specific applications.
To tailor the consumer Z Flip devices for police use, Samsung partnered with Visual Labs, a body camera solution provider. Together, they modified the devices to meet the specific needs of law enforcement, including remapping the external volume button for instant recording and enabling automatic activation based on certain scenarios such as high-speed pursuits or connection to a dashcam with activated emergency lights.
On top of emphasising on Z Flip series’ “high-quality camera” and “durable construction” as key features, the company also boasted regarding the devices’ battery life in the same blog post. This particular aspect ironically isn’t the series’ strongest suit – at least for those that came before the newly launched Galaxy Z Flip6. It is very likely that Visual Labs may have had a hand in tweaking this for law enforcement use.
(Source: Samsung [official US blog])
