Police cruisers commonly carry video camera's on their dashboards, used in high speed pursuits, as well as vehicle stops. I often read about drivers who spot a 'Squatch standing on the side of the road. I have to wonder if there were any reports of a cruiser picking on a 'Squatch on video, while eating road kill or thumbing for a ride.

lobzila,

Not a bad idea.

The problem is that a front line Officer does not want to run up a lot of film on Dark County Highways. The video cam is primarily used for documentation of "An Event". (I.E. "Felony Stop", Pursuits", Traffic Stops", ect... ect...) They are turned on at will, and with purpose. They are not randomly taking photos of the country side.

It would be really cool though if someday, while in the middle of a high speed pursuit, (or other event,) a Bigfoot was caught on film. I have seen deer being hit, while on pursuits... so... it is definitely a possibility!

Donnie

I'm hoping that with the new long-time tapes, and with police depts. being concerned about liability suits from encounters, there will be more depts. adopting an Always-On policy. Here is a post I made earlier on this topic, which has a link to even more. (Or search the site for "dashboard.")

Interesting thought re LEO cameras. I also thought spelunking boards might be a resource for stories (poked around on a few before without luck).

I never assumed an LEO would have the camera 'on' at all times, only when an event such as a chase, vehicle stop or possibly someone or something standing on the side of the road in the dark. Sure, it's wishful thinking but certainly not out of the realm of possibility.

Our in-car cameras are activated only when the light bar is activated..maybe some other squads are set up differently. Plus, I think if the lights and siren are going, a sasquatch wouldn't be standing around too long.

I guess departments differ, because our dept.'s policy has been, for over ten years now, to have the dash cam on at ALL times (8 hr. tape speed). Of course, sometimes we forget to turn it on, and having the auto switch activate the cam with the overheads being turned on helps us during our (okay, MY) memory lapses. Unfortunately, our jurisdiction isn't quite rural enough to hope for any glimpses of a Sassy, but you never can tell with some of those coppers that patrol out in the sticks. I've caught some interesting moments on the cam, and I think it would be a good idea for road researchers to have one running during their travels. I think if anything as neat as a "possible sasquatch" was caught on a cruiser cam, it would have found it's way to the internet or the bigfoot community by now, but you never can tell. BTW, it's great to see so many police officers (and other emergency personnel ---yeah, I mean shingle pickers, squirrel chasers, intersection busters, Feebs, etc. ) interested in BF!

This is something that the TBRC is adopting, onboard video cameras. We will be using dash-mounted cameras when driving into, around and out of research areas. There are several affordable setups for civilian use.

dashmount systems

We've been doing this for a while now. As soon as we begin to approach an area we start filiming, and the camera doesn't go off except for tape or battery changes (which results in some occasionaly candid/embarassing moments being forever documented ).

I can definitely see where I wouldn't want my camera on at all times! (One could easily incriminate themselves!) :rolleyes: :doh: