Samsung promotes US police officers using its Galaxy Z Flip smartphones as a body camera

Samsung is completely dominating the foldable smartphone business, with a step further seeing its new foldable Galaxy Z Flip smartphones used as police body cameras.

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Samsung is promoting the use of its Galaxy Z Flip smartphones as body-warn cameras for police officers, promoting the fact that some US police officers are using them as body cameras. The South Korean giant started a pilot program with the Kimberling City Police and the Indian Point Police in Missouri, where they started testing the Galaxy Z Flip as a body camera for police officers in the field.

The police officers in the pilot program wore the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip smartphones as body cameras in the field, to better maintain transparency. The program was a success, and expanded to other departments.

Samsung explained in a blog post that its Galaxy Z Flip is a custom-built device for officers to use as a body camera, working with Visual Labs to make the smarpthone more suitable for attachment to police uniforms. The clamshell-style flip phone had its volume button remapped to make it easier for police officers to start recording video in an emergency, while the camera is also if a high-speed incident occurs, making it easier for the officers to handle the situation in real-time without worrying about starting the video recording.

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".