ZEPCAM bodycams for rangers: more safety and better interactions

The challenge

Staatsbosbeheer is the Dutch national organisation for the managing and preserving of 270,000 hectares of nature and natural heritage. With 100 rangers, law enforcers in nature and (national) parks, they maintain, preserve and police nature areas and parks. Inherent in the job is the fact that many rangers work alone or in small teams, with large nature areas to manage and police.

In recent years they experienced some worrying trends:

• Consecutive increases in incidents between rangers and visitors
• Cases of verbal and/or physical intimidation and abuse
• Subjective filming by visitors who were unhappy to be stopped due to an infraction

With Dutch law restricting the policing tools available to the rangers, bodycams were seen as a possible supporting technology. To address the safety, well-being and working conditions of their employees.

The solution

After an initial pilot wherein several bodycam providers were tested, Staatsbosbeheer choose a ZEPCAM T2+ solution for their rangers. The solution was found to be the most secure, with the highest levels of encryption. Furthermore, the bodycam system was fully GDPR compliant, a necessity for any E.U. organisation. With excellent customer support, custom software development possibilities, and trainings given by ZEPCAM certified BOATrainer.nl, the T2+ solution was the ideal choice for the Dutch National Rangers.

Besides the T2+ bodycams, docking stations and a cloud-based ZEPCAM Manager were chosen to efficiently support the crucial work done by the rangers.

Results

Both the pilot and the roll-out resulted in great support for ZEPCAM bodycams amongst the rangers, their managers and the organisation as a whole. What the rangers experienced daily was that the T2+ bodycams resulted in:

• Increased the feelings of safety,
• Increased actual safety due to the reduction of serious incidents
• An inherent calming effect in interactions with the public due to the chance of being recorded
• Increased happiness and satisfaction of their employees due to the improvements in interactions and their overall safety

During the majority of escalating interactions, the mere mentioning of the presence of ZEPCAM bodycams supported de-escalation tactics. This offered the rangers and visitors a chance to continue interacting with respect and understanding. Furthermore, with the T2+ bodycams at the ready, the rangers felt more secure, safe and confident during interactions, especially with no immediate support nearby.

All the rangers were very enthusiastic about this new supporting technology, with the vast majority embracing the ZEPCAM T2+ solution. There were, as with any technology, some questions about privacy but this was completely addressed by the policy of the organisation. The rangers decide for themselves when to mention, activate or otherwise use the bodycams. Also, all footage is restricted and stored in a GDPR compliant manner to protect their rights and privacy.

Learnings

Experiences showed that the bodycam footage was good with clear image and audio output. Furthermore, the footage had very useful other functions besides evidence of wrongdoing; self-evaluation and the development of best practices.

When an incident occurs, rangers can put in a request to watch the bodycam footage and evaluate the situation as well as their actions. With actionable footage as supporting material, rangers are able to analyse, reflect and if necessary, make changes to optimise their work and working conditions. At a later stage, the footage made by the T2+ bodycams could be used for organisation-wide trainings and policy development, naturally in a privacy complaint manner.

Lastly, rangers showed their enthusiasm by researching themselves about the multitude of wearing options for ZEPCAM bodycams. Though the organisation has started with the Magnet mount, employees are already scouting for new ways to wear the bodycams. So that they can continue to conduct their crucial work safely, and in the way they want and feel most comfortable with.

About ZEPCAM

ZEPCAM mobile video support, intelligence and evidence systems enable frontline professionals to deal with the unexpected events that come with their job. Providing them the support from their teams to do their work more safely, effectively and confidently. Whether it is to protect staff, gather indisputable evidence, improve company processes or train employees, ZEPCAM bodycam solutions answer all of our customers’ needs. We have provided our customers with better information, innovation and integration every hour, day and month for over a decade. Over 500 customers in more than 40 countries have overcome industry challenges with ZEPCAM bodycam and video management solutions. With ZEPCAM you’ll never work alone.

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