Dashboard Cameras Growing In Popularity
BOSTON (CBS) -- From capturing a meteor strike to road rage incidents, the use of dashboard cameras appears to be on the rise.
Device sales are expected to surpass $4 billion globally by 2020, according to a Transparency Market Research report.
That's due to lowering prices, and increasing awareness about their benefits.
Sarah Wunsch, deputy legal director for the ACLU in Massachusetts, says videos like the one caught recently by the dashcam of a driver in Medford can be an important source of information.
"People have the right to record the police, especially out there in public," she said.
The video shows an off-duty officer aggressively conducting a traffic stop. Detective Stephen Lebert is currently on paid administrative leave while the incident is investigated.
"I'll put a hole right through your head," Lebert is heard telling the driver named Michael.
In the video posted to YouTube titled "Medford Detective threatens to kill civilian," the driver says that he made a wrong turn on an unfamiliar rotary at Winthrop and High streets.
"The behavior of the police officer seemed off the charts," says Wunsch.
The driver alerted two police officers during the traffic stop that the dashboard camera was recording the conversation.
According to Wunsch, police consent was not required in that particular incident.
"The point about the dashcam, when it's used by members of the public, is that it's not hidden, it's not secret, (and) it's not a violation of our wiretap statute," she says.
She says videos can provide useful information, especially in the wake of recent police-involved shootings and deaths.
Wunsch said she wants not just the use of dashcams, but also police use of body cameras.
"We support the recording, which is done openly, of the conduct of the police," she said.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Bernice Corpuz Reports:
