“The officer who shot and killed Hawkes did not have his lapel camera turned on…”

That’s what Reason just reported in the case of former Albuquerque police (APD) officer Jeremy Dear. Dear shot and killed a 19-year-old female on April 21. It was the third fatal shooting by APD officers in a month. The department has one of the highest per capita killing rates in the U.S. Public outcry caused APD to start outfitting its officers with new wearable cameras. These are like police cruiser “dash cams”… just affixed to officers’ bodies instead of their cars.

Incidents like Dear’s and the recent high profile shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, have driven the move to outfit every one of the 780,000 U.S. police officers with wearable cameras. Congress has just appropriated $75 million over the next three years for the purchase of the equipment. The legislation is a matching program… so the total purchase will come to $150 million.

It’s just the beginning. This appropriation covers only 50,000 cameras. That still leaves over 700,000 U.S. cops without cams. Plus the U.N. estimates there are 21 million police officers worldwide. Many industrialized nations have also begun outfitting their police forces with wearable devices.

If you’re curious which company stands to benefit the most from the “cop-cam” mega trend, read our next item. Mega Trends Investing’s research assistant, Lance Goldberg, wrote it for Palm Beach Daily readers.