JACKSON, MS – Patrolman Keith Dowd of the University of Mississippi Medical Center Police Department recently spoke about his experience with his WOLFCOM VISION Police Body Camera. Dowd is a 10-year police veteran and also spent 20 years as an EMS worker. His department, the University of Mississippi Medical Center Police Department, recently purchased 67 WOLFCOM Vision Police Body Cameras.
“We’re happy that Patrolman Dowd chose the WOLFCOM VISION and we thank him for sharing his personal story below. As he says, we designed our body cameras with critical features like Advanced Pre-Record and Critical Re-Connect so if an officer finds themselves in an unexpected situation like a fight or struggle, they have the ability use these powerful tools to back up and preserve that critical video evidence and record the truth of what happened. We at WOLFCOM, we design our cameras to be the best because cops like Patrolman Dowd deserve the best,” said WOLFCOM Founder Peter Austin Onruang.
Dowd had ordered his own WOLFCOM VISION body camera earlier this year. “I got it in response to all the events in the news with Ferguson and other police-involved shootings. Our department talked about getting police body cameras for the worst case scenario. I thought it would be better to have audio and video to back up what happened. While I was waiting for the body camera I had an incident happen. If I had the police body camera with me, it would have been an open and shut case as far as testimony,” said Dowd.
“I responded to a call about a suspect trespassing in the hospital. I confronted the suspect, who lied about his identity and did not comply with orders to leave the area. I attempted to arrest the suspect for making false statements and ordered the suspect to turn around and place his hands behind his back. The suspect complied, but as I went to approach him, the suspect lunged at me, knocking me down and then attempted to pull my weapon. When he couldn’t get it out of the holster, he started punching me in the head about 15 to 20 times. Another officer and a nurse trained in mixed martial arts were able to pull the suspect off me and break it up. In court, the suspect denied making false statements and attacking me. He said ‘I never lied to him about my name’ and ‘I never lunged at him’. If I had the police body camera, it would have been clear and it would have been all caught on camera,” said Dowd.
“Once upon a time a police officers’ word was golden, but now people question everything. Now it is far easier to have that camera as back up for incidents where people were acting disorderly and not acting right. Now we have that video behind it if we needed it,” said Dowd. “It’s just a good tool to have. The best feature is the 30-minute Advanced Pre-Record. No one else comes close to having that safety feature. It’s critical, especially when most incidents can last a while and even if you forget or don’t have time to press record, you have 30 minutes to go back and save the footage. You never have an excuse not to have video of an incident,” said Dowd.
“If you’re going to get a police body camera you might as well get the best. I also liked that it has HD quality images and two microphones. The video quality is unsurpassed. What are you going to trust your video evidence with? What do you want, poor quality video you can barely make out or wide angle clear HD that leaves no room for doubt?” said Dowd. “The VISION body camera is very easy to use. You don’t have to be technically savvy to use it. You can use it in easy mode and don’t have to worry about flipping a bunch of switches. Even outside of easy mode, anyone can use it, it’s simple to use especially if you’re responding to a call and need to start it up quickly,” said Dowd.