Shonin Is the Body Cam for Citizens We May Need Right Now

Over the past few years, a depressing series of shaky smart phone videos have pushed the issue of police violence against the black community into the mainstream conversation. As a result of those videos, the idea of police officers wearing body cams has grown in popularity. What better way to curb abuses of power than to document them? But what about a body cam for the average citizen? Sure, every iPhone app developer has a camera on their phone, but what about when you need a video in a pinch?

That’s where Shonin comes in. This small stream cam has garnered a lot of attention, pulling in more than $150,000 on Kickstarter (its initial goal was $30,000). It would appear that this is the right gadget for our times. The “wearable personal security camera” can easily be clipped onto your shirt and is activated by a simple tap. When there is no Wi-Fi connection, the video is saved to an internal 8GB SD card. But with a connection, video is instantaneously streamed to YouTube or Facebook Live and is uploaded to the protected Shonin cloud. That way, an iPhone app developer in a sticky situation can have video documentation of the incident broadcast in real-time.

Does the average citizen really need to invest in a body cam? It may seem a little extreme, but Shonin’s success on Kickstarter suggests that people really do believe this is a necessary tool for our era. The video on Shonin’s Kickstarter opens with a jarring montage of KKK rallies, heated protests, bad cops, and street violence that feels even more timely in light of the events in Charlottesville (funds have spiked in the last week). The startup has raised enough money now to add a time-lapse mode and image stabilization. Chicago iPhone app developers may not feel it is necessary to leave the house strapped with a wearable cam, but for those at a high risk for run-ins with trouble, the Shonin is not a bad investment at less than $200.