AN Edinburgh-based business has hailed a €15 million deal to provide French police with 30,000 body-worn cameras.

Edesix, acquired by Motorola Solutions when it acquired VaaS Inc for £350m but maintaining its base in the Scottish capital, has been selected to provide video solutions that improve trust and safety in policing by having all law enforcement officers wearing body-worn cameras.

Motorola Solutions said that the French Ministry of the Interior will deploy the body-worn cameras to its National Police and the Gendarmerie in a programme of to modernising policing.

The roll-out of body-worn cameras is described as “one of the largest ever deployed” and is expected to start in July 2021.

The deployment will support the French government’s goal to improve trust and safety in policing by having all law enforcement officers wearing body-worn cameras, the firm said.

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Richie McBride, senior director of international mobile video at Motorola Solutions and former managing director of Edesix, said: “This win represents the increasingly significant role of body-worn cameras in mission-critical situations, especially to enhance transparency and safety for frontline officers.

“Our Motorola Solutions teams in Scotland are focused on the development of video and software solutions which are widely adopted by public safety and enterprise organisations around the globe.”

The VB400 camera is designed to protect both the police and the public with its intuitive recording function and the extended battery life that lasts beyond the shift with up to 12 hours of recording.

Motorola Solutions will also provide a broad range of accessories including helmet cameras for motorcycle officers to capture high-definition footage even when riding at high speed.

Future innovations can include "holster aware" which automatically activates a recording and live-streams body-worn camera footage if an officer draws their weapon as well as an Android-compatible application which enables officers to view and categorise footage in the field.

"This partnership follows a number of significant body-worn camera deployments,” said Jack Molloy, Motorola Solutions executive vice president, product and worldwide sales.

"Since moving into the body-worn camera market, we have quickly become a global player due to our differentiated solution that integrates into our mission-critical ecosystem spanning voice communications, command centre software, and video security and analytics.”

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