I have a system in my vehicle. I originally bought it for the year I
spent driving a semi truck, seeing the country and getting paid for it

The DOT cops in some states are infamously corrupt so that was my
protection.
I got a 4 channel security system DVR that ran on 12 volts. I have
three cameras. One on the dash, one mounted at the rear of the front
window so it can see a cop and watch the rear view mirror and a third
one mounted above the rear window, designed to watch a cop doing a car
search and planting dope or something.
Fortunately I've never had to use the system for what it is intended.
It did save me a major hassle in the truck one night. This DVR system
had motion sensing where one could select an area of the screen to
monitor and it would alarm if motion was sensed.
When I went to bed at night I'd turn on the alarm that monitored the
rear view mirror. Seems a popular stunt to do to noob drivers is to
come around in the night and pull the trailer release handle. In the
morning when one does his hitch integrity check (tug the trailer with
the trailer brakes set), the tractor drives right out from under the
trailer, letting it fall on its landing gear. It is a major effort to
crank the landing jack back up enough to re-hitch.
Anyway, my alarm caught a guy doing that. I didn't make it out of the
sleeper in time to grab him but it did save me from driving out from
under the trailer.
Before the DVR, I always carried a little digital recorder in my shirt
pocket. Press one button to start recording. I caught a cop
soliciting a bribe during a traffic stop. Got him fired but
unfortunately not prosecuted.
As far as hassles, there really are none once the system is installed.
The DVR has a real time clock and runs a 2 week "loop" on the hard
drive.
I put a very high quality camera on the dash. One of the nice things
about that was that if I drove past some unusually interesting
scenery, I could later retrieve it to my laptop. I learned to put my
hand over the lens for a few seconds after passing the scene of
interest to give me some black to look for when searching the video
later.
I think that as cops continue to get more militaristic and corrupt,
some sort of video recording is going to be a must - just like in
Russia.
John
John DeArmond
http://www.neon-john.com
http://www.fluxeon.com
Tellico Plains, Occupied TN
See website for email address