The Bozeman Police Department announced Nov. 30 that it received a grant to buy a new patrol car camera that streams data wirelessly to servers back at the station — well, from the parking lot. Not from the road. Still, the Arbitrator 360 — What a great name for a police camera! — beats the old VHS tape system in use now.
According to the Panasonic website for the Arbitrator 360, the camera is all solid state, has a 220x zoom and has built-in infrared capability. Here are the specs.
The website doesn’t say how much the camera system costs — it’s one of those things you call to ask about. Neither does the police department release say how much the grant was for, but a Google shopping search tells me that the system costs about $5,500 apiece.
The grant comes courtesy of the Montana Department of Transportation and the Gallatin County DUI Task Force, the department said in a written statement. Dave McManis with the Bozeman police said the department will buy one camera for about $4,200.