Samsung Galaxy Z Flip Phones Serve as Body Camera for Police Operations in Missouri

Officers were equipped with Samsung Galaxy Z Flip series smartphones to help them find efficiencies in their work through several methods.

Police officers and law enforcement workers deal with turbulent, fast-paced and often dangerous situations on a daily basis. Today, new technologies can support such jobs by significantly streamlining activities, enable workers to carry out tasks more effectively and even improve safety and transparency. It’s a time when the right tools can truly change the day-to-day experience of public service professionals, consumers and employees for the better.

Transforming operations in this way was the goal for the Kimberling City Police and the Indian Point Police in Missouri. These forces conducted a pilot program two years ago to test out new devices to help improve daily operations. Officers were equipped with Samsung Galaxy Z Flip series smartphones to help them find efficiencies in their work through several methods. This included their use as a body-worn camera to promote transparency, marking the first time that police have used a foldable device in this way.

Fast forward approximately six months and the pilot was complete with officers reporting successful results. With the effectiveness of the devices established, Samsung explored ways to broaden their usage to even more police officers. The Galaxy Z Flip devices were then expanded to the San Benito and the Craighead County Sheriff’s departments, bringing the benefits of this technology to even more public service professionals.

The Galaxy Z Flip devices were chosen in part due to their unique form factor, which provides a lightweight, compact design. To ensure the devices were made with the best quality and as fit-for-purpose as possible, Samsung collaborated with Visual Labs, a leading body camera solution provider.

They worked together to customize the device, including remapping the external volume button to start the body camera recordings in urgent situations without the need to turn on the display or open the smartphone. The body camera function can also be activated by detecting high speed while pursuing a suspect or when connected to the dash-cam solution, through the activation of emergency lights. These features provide police officers with additional methods to promptly begin recording their surroundings, enhancing their ability to capture critical events.

According to Samsung, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip series’ works well as a body camera due to its compact and foldable form factor, allowing for easy attachment to police uniforms and outer carriers. Its high-quality camera ensures a clear and detailed video recording, while its durable construction makes it suitable for demanding environments. Additionally, the long battery life and advanced features like stabilization and quick access to recordings make it an optimal choice for body camera use.

Todd Maxwell, Director of Business Development @Samsung on social media said: 

"Sometimes an amazing use case idea comes in collaboration with a partner and customer that drives an innovative solution powered by our cutting edge hashtag#foldable mobile technology. This is one of those amazing stories that required collaboration with partners, Samsung development team, sales engineering team, product management in the US/Korea, marketing and our SEA/GMBT leadership. We had to test and develop new features like side-key remapping, wide angle camera access and adding IP rating for water resistance to our Galaxy Flip series. I am really proud of this innovate solution and eternally grateful to have such amazing partners and customers that allow us to bring solutions to life! Special thanks to Versaterm and Todd Lemoine for helping bring this hashtag#firstresponder solution to the Global Stage!"

The result is a unique, all-in-one solution that provides efficiencies no other smartphone can offer. The Galaxy Z Flip’s inherent versatility makes it extremely adaptable and appealing across numerous industries – for the police, it brings expanded on-the-job abilities, improved situational awareness and enhanced communication and engagement across teams.

In their use as body-worn cameras, Galaxy Z Flip devices can help improve evidence gathering and transparency by clearly documenting details of arrests and other interactions. With the support of Visual Labs technology, video data can also be stored in the cloud instantaneously, allowing footage to be livestreamed to the police force’s command center and viewed in real time. This plays a key role in keeping colleagues unified and informed regarding team operations.

In one easy-to-use device that combines several technologies, the Galaxy Z Flip additionally functions as a digital camera needed for taking pictures of crime scene evidence; an audio recorder for witness interviews; and a personnel locator for tracking an officer’s location through GPS. The device also allows phone calls, emails and text messaging. It can support other agency-specific applications such as computer-aided dispatch, criminal justice database queries and even push-to-talk, helping law enforcement log crimes and activity in real time and while on the move.

All this adds up to a level of utility that surpasses single-purpose devices, helping to keep officers safe and improving their productivity. Enveloping the device features is the sleek design of the Galaxy Z Flip series, ideal for busy police officers because it allows them to quickly and easily mount the device on their uniform. This makes it much easier to use than traditional bar-shaped devices and minimizes the amount of equipment they need to carry, all without compromising on performance. The device also boasts advantages in maintenance costs compared to other body-worn cameras, which is a crucial consideration and benefit in distributing devices to numerous officers.

Kimberling City Police Department Chief of Police, Todd Lemoine said,

“We chose the Galaxy Z Flip due to the wide array of benefits it brings to our team, and we’re delighted to say that we’ve had incredible results. We’ve seen response and investigation efforts be significantly improved by its overall ease of use and ability to enhance communications across teams. These devices put powerful resources right at the fingertips of our force.”