Law-enforcement technologyStart-ups offer law enforcement innovation, flexibility, and low prices
Start-ups offer innovation and flexibility in addition to lower price points. The influx of start-ups into the law enforcement and security supply market is in its early stage, and while few start-ups have begun to compete with traditional, and much larger, players, law enforcement units appear to be attracted to the innovation and lower prices offered.
Bounce Imaging, a Boston-based company, has developed a throwable camera ball designed for situations in which users need 360-degree field of view, often without being detected. The ball shoots in black-and-white, which offers better viewing than color in poor lighting, and uses near-infrared lamps to provide illumination without revealing the ball to the human eye.
Start-ups like Bounce Imaging are beginning to equip law enforcement units with innovative tools. USA Today reports that Chief Joe Cafarelli of the Revere Police Department faced a tough situation after suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was pulled out of a boat in Watertown, Massachusetts. The “team had to figure out whether another perpetrator might be inside the vessel, hiding under the tarp. Airborne thermal imaging suggested that the coast was clear, but officers on the ground didn’t know that, and didn’t have any equipment to help them figure it out on their own. The only way to tell was by actually peeking into the boat — a move that would leave officers in a vulnerable position.”
The law-enforcement technology market offers several options for the situation Cafarelli and his men faced. Start-ups like Bounce Imagingare breaking into the market to offer law enforcement departments lower priced and more innovative products. An officer equipped with Bounce Imaging’s cameral ball could view the images from the ball remotely without having to enter a potentially hostile situation. Remington offers a similar product for $5,500, which may be expensive for municipal budgets, but Bounce Imagingoffers its version of the camera ball for less than $1,000 at launch, with the plan to reduce the price to about $500 as production increases.
Start-ups offer innovation and flexibility in addition to lower price points. Mark43 is a software company that developed from a 2012 project at Harvard University. The firm’s reporting software used to track crime has been adopted by law enforcement units in Springfield, Massachusetts and Los Angeles.
Start-ups are considered risky and their longevity and dependability uncertain, which makes it difficult to convince law enforcement units to adopt these start-ups’ new technology. Still, start-ups offer simplicity and flexibility. Start-ups are able to customize products for specific law enforcement units, and adoption of new technology like 3D Printers allows start-ups to test multiple prototypes at relatively low cost. USA Today notes that the influx of start-ups into the law enforcement and security supply market is in its early stage, and while few start-ups have begun to compete with traditional, and much larger, players, law enforcement units appear to be attracted to the innovation and lower prices offered.
