Company Name: Reveal
Headquarters: Mooresville, NC
Signature Product: RS2-X2 body camera
Website: revealmedia.com/us/
Intro: Reveal is a leading provider of body worn video camera solutions. Capturing evidence from a first person perspective, this technology has a proven and major impact on reducing levels of crime, abuse and anti-social behavior, as well as delivering significant cost and operational efficiencies to organizations deploying it.
Reveal has been providing complete body-worn camera solutions since 2006, and currently supplies body worn cameras and accompanying software to clients in thirty countries and is rapidly expanding its international activities with three global offices now in operation.
Where did your company name originate from?
The name Reveal came from a product idea that our CEO had before the company was founded back in 2002. The product was going to be some sort of software that could identify and pull out important sections of video to be used in court as evidence, but it became a grandfather of sorts to DEMS instead. Today the name stands in a similar way. Our products reveal the truth.
What was the inspiration behind starting your company?
Reveal was launched in 2002 as a company that provided a bespoke digital evidence management system for law enforcement to the UK government as part of a national pilot of body worn video technology. Reveal was quick to see the potential and great benefits the technology brought for both front line officers and the department or agency, however, Reveal was also quick to realize that the quality of available body cameras on the market was significantly hindering the projects by being clunky, unreliable and a nuisance to officers. Reveal decided the concept of on-officer video was too important to wait for other companies to begin making usable cameras, and soon after, developed the world’s first front-facing screen body camera with an articulated camera head and one-action record – that actually worked, and officers liked to use.
Why do you believe your products are beneficial to the police community?
Body-worn video in general has been shown all over the world to bring unprecedented benefits to front line officers, departments and the policing community as a whole. Amongst other things, body cameras protect officers, protect the public, improve policing, reduce complaints and incur significant cost and time savings.
Our philosophy has always been to provide products and services that allow these benefits of body-worn video to be realized fully. We do this by reducing the barriers to adoption, removing the burden on the organization and creating products that are a joy to use daily.
We have over 10 years of experience working with police officers and our cameras are being used in organizations in 30 countries all over the world. We believe that this unique insight into the law enforcement front line means that our products, over others, allow more of the benefits of body worn video to be realized by front line officers and departments.
What has been the biggest challenge your company has faced?
Up until the last year or two, one of our biggest challenges was educating police forces about body-worn video. What it was, who was using it and why they should do it. It was often met with skepticism from various parties, with concerns as to inducing a “big brother state,” policing the police, and financial and logistical implications. Thankfully, we worked with a lot of UK police forces who have been the quickest in the world to adopt the technology.
Alongside projects, some that started back in 2008, Reveal has been part of the pioneering story of body-worn video around the world; implementing, scaling and supporting programs from a handful of cameras to thousands. Now the question is not whether to use body-worn video, but which solution!
What makes your company unique?
We never underestimate what it means to be on the front line. For nearly a decade, we have designed and built world-leading body-worn video systems in close partnership with the frontline workers who use them. We understand that frontline workers want to capture and share evidence from their perspective. We understand how our technology reduces crime and saves time and money. We understand how our products transform the jobs of frontline workers.
We focus on the partnership, not the purchase. We focus on working with our clients to ensure that body-worn video works for them. We encourage – and help with – careful project planning, monitoring and measurement. We work hard to maintain ongoing relationships with clients, ensuring that they get the maximum benefit from their investment in body worn video.
We produce a unique range of cameras, for a variety of uses and environments. We have developed the most widely used digital evidence management system in the world. All of our products are cutting edge technology, but always easy to use.
What do your customers like best about your products?
Our customers have always been impressed by our commitment to them and their body worn video project post-sale.
This is summed up in this quote from Anthony Lewis-Webber of the Metropolitan Police, London, “I want to express my sincere thanks for the on-going technical support given by your company. The after sales support has been nothing but excellent. Your staff is a real credit to Reveal.”
Officer John Pedjac of City of Clare Police, MI, USA, also said, “We have other body worn video suppliers. And so have other police departments round here. We’re the only ones using Reveal. And we’re the only ones who are happy!”
Our customers tell us that our solution is ahead of the pack because DEMS, our digital evidence management system, is included as a bundle. We’ve been a software company longer than we’ve been a body camera company so DEMS is not just an add-on to what we do. DEMS is the heart and soul of our body camera solution. Taking just our body camera range, our clients love the front-facing screen (some after being skeptical at first – they see for themselves the difference it makes in confrontations), articulated camera head (so everyone can record accurately) and one action record (reduces the barriers to usage and makes operation easy, even in difficult situations).
What is the most rewarding part of serving the first responder community?
We never underestimate what it means to be on the front line. That’s why giving frontline officers a tool that will transform their job, and therefore lives, is the most rewarding part. Hearing feedback from our customers gives us confidence in what we do. We have heard over and over again that our cameras have saved officer’s jobs because they were able to prove they acted professionally in a potentially controversial situation.
We’ve also heard officers say that they would rather take out a Reveal body camera than their pepper spray because they feel safer with the front facing screen than an actual weapon. All over the world our cameras are giving frontline officers more confidence in what they do whilst improving policing. That is very rewarding.
Do you support any charitable organizations?
We sponsor the Body Worn Video Steering Group (www.BWVSG.com) which is a non-profit entity with the aim to: “bring together organizations experienced in deploying and using Body Worn Video technology so that a code of best practice can be developed and shared with others; to provide a central library of information, a forum for debate, a group of experienced people willing to help others; to promote the use of Body Worn Video; and to design the future of Body Worn Video.” The BWVSG has become a credible hub of information, news and best practice for organizations around the world and was recently referenced in a white paper by Michael D. White, PhD called “Police Officer Body-Worn Cameras – assessing the evidence.”
Is there any fun fact or trivia that you’d like to share with our users about you or your company?
Before creating Reveal, our CEO was previously a sound engineer for Formula 1!
What’s next for your company? Any upcoming new projects or initiatives?
We’ve been world leaders in body-worn video for the last 10 years and we intend to continue leading the curve. The progression of technology offers some exciting new possibilities for the world of body-worn video, but we are not about cramming any and every technological possibility into our products. We focus on developing products with features that add value to front line officers and their departments.
