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May 2008 - Ontario Police Department has issued
PUMA II Digital Recorders to record, store, and manage, suspect
statements, witness interviews, and noteworthy contacts with the
public. The department feels, the ability for police officers to
record official encounters with the PUMA Digital Recorders will
have a significant impact on successful criminal prosecutions and
can reduce the amount of time necessary to investigate frivolous
personnel complaints.
Patrol Officer at the department grew
tired of the restrictive micro-cassette recorders issued which had
severe limitations. The micro-cassette recording capacity of only
30 minutes on each side is limited and has no warning when the
recorder reaches the end of the tape. Due to the limited capacity
of these micro-cassettes, there have been instances when valuable
information went unrecorded. In addition the recorders are
replaced frequently due to breakage. To correct these
deficiencies, the Department has moved in favorable of the more
reliable digital technology afforded by PUMA Digital Recorders.
While researching the various systems
available, it became apparent to the department that the following
features would be needed in a product.
1. A device that can record up to 20 hours and does not allow
editing. This is to ensure that the recordings cannot be appended
should they be needed as evidence in future court proceedings.
2. A centralized software system to manage and catalog the
recordings that would be downloaded to a storage area network. The
downloaded files would need to be marked automatically with the
recorder’s date and time, and each digital recording
electronically assigned to each officer via an electronic serial
number embedded within the recorded file.
3. A holder to allow officers to carry the recorder on their duty
belt and store completed recordings in a rugged case to eliminate
accidental erasures when dropped or impacted.
Police staff reviewed digital recording systems of numerous
vendors and suppliers and found that the only product that met all
desired specifications is the PUMA Digital Recorder and Software
Management System which was specifically designed for law
enforcement use.
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