Secret Service wants 2,000 body-worn cameras

Secret Service members may soon wear body cameras in the line of duty, according to a request for information from vendors.

The Secret Service is part of the Department of Homeland Security, which wants to award a firm-fixed-price contract for 2,000 body-worn cameras but first needs a better sense of vendor capabilities to plan the procurement.

Federal interest in body-worn cameras has increased since the Department of Justice started permitting their use on federal task forces in October.

The desired cameras will store at least 12 hours of video at a high-definition video resolution of 1080 pixels and ideally 24 hours at 8K. They’re to have at least a 150-degree field of view and ideally 180 degrees, as well as night vision and vehicle adaptability.

Cameras will have pre-event recording that can be adjusted to between 30 seconds and 2 minutes prior to their activation. Activation and deactivation can be manual but will automatically occur whenever the camera, a weapon or a taser is withdrawn from its holster.

Live feeds will be able to be remotely activated and monitored and all videos timestamped and dated. GPS can also be tied to the video and manually disabled or remotely activated.

The Secret Service wants the ability to categorize, label and redact videos captured. The cameras will be able to have their internal memory remotely monitored, and uploads will be both wireless and wired.

Cameras will wirelessly upload their contents on-premise or to a Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program-certified cloud platform within at least 10 and ideally five minutes of activation. The device will purge that data once it’s uploaded.

Non-evidentiary video files will be stored at least 30 and ideally 90 days, while the desired range for evidentiary files is 3 to 32 years. The Secret Service also wants the ability to label videos “permanent” to automate their perpetual storage.

Logs must be auditable and the cloud platform must have access controls capable of resisting denial-of-service attacks and exfiltration attempts.

Other camera features the Secret Service seek include:

• Wi-Fi docking;
• mobile connectivity;
• geofencing;
• separate, replaceable, rechargeable batteries;
• quick charging from 0% to full battery in at least 1 hour and ideally 30 minutes;
• remote monitoring of charge status;
• automatic shutdown when at low battery to avoid data corruption; and
• reassignable owners.

Vendors have until noon on March 1 to respond to the request for information.