Harnesses and Mounts

Most body worn cameras will come with some mounting options included with the camera. These tend to be crocodile clips or epaullete clips. While many users may find these suitable, there are numerous drawbacks. The most prominent being how secure the device is when attached. It is very easy to simply pull these off of a security officer during a confrontation which is why many body camera owners choose alternative mounting options such as harnesses and uniform docks.

The KlickFast Locking System was originally developed by Peter Jones ILG as a way to secure radios and essential equipment to the user’s person. As technology progressed, the KlickFast System became the industry standard for body worn camera harnesses and mounts.

There are two parts to the system, the male connector and the female connector. The male connector is a high-impact nylon stud with a unique shape that is attached to the body worn camera either directly or through the use of a pouch. The female connector is a KlickFast dock that is attached to the user’s uniform or a harness.

Once both parts are assembled, all you need to do is slide the male connector into the dock and rotate it 180°. Your device will now be securely locked in place. To deploy the device, you need simply to rotate it back 180° and pull.

The KlickFast System is one of the most secure way to mount body worn cameras and due to its popularity is available in a vast number of varieties as harnesses, belt loops, rsm tags, screw-on-docks and more.

The biggest consideration for docks that are attached to uniforms will be placement and the strength of the uniform itself.
Where you place a dock will depend on the equipment and what you plan to do with it. The most obvious example is body worn cameras. As you need to be able record the faces of suspects which means that it has to be placed high on the body. This excludes belt docks. You will also need to take in to account the movement of the body so it needs to be somewhere that doesn’t move around too much so placement on the chest or off-hand shoulder is ideal. Radios offer more flexibility as they can be worn on the upper and lower parts of the body.

If you are attaching a dock directly to a uniform, the strength of the dock and how secure it is will depend on the strength of the uniform. A KlickFast Dock 08 which screws into fabric will only be secure as long as the fabric is strong enough to be pulled on. If not, the fabric will tear. A belt loop dock will only be as strong as the belt that it is attached to.

The other consideration with uniform or clothing strength which affects mainly body cameras is leaning caused by light fabrics. If the camera is too heavy and the fabric is not taut enough, the recording will have a downward lean. This can be a big problem as you might miss vital information such as a suspect’s face.

A lot of the considerations around body worn camera harnesses revolve around range of motion and what kind of uniform or clothing you are wearing.

In order to get stable footage, one must limit the armour of movement that the camera is subjected to. If you place a camera on the head or on your right shoulder (left if you are left-handed), you will end up with a lot of footage that is not very useful. It is important to be aware of what you might be doing when choosing a harness. Centre chest placements tend to reduce motion but that also means that you cannot move your hands across the middle of your body without obscuring footage. Off-hand shoulder placements work well but tend toward a sideways lean, particularly on more muscular users.

Certain types of uniform may cause problems depending on what type of body worn camera harness you are using. Blazers and jackets bunch up when a chest harness is used over them and when used under them, the sides of the uniform may obscure the footage. Shoulder Harnesses work better in this situation as they are counter-balanced across the back rather than the front of the body. This prevents the above-mentioned bunching affect.

Yes, all official KlickFast male and female connectors are the same size. Unfortunately not all products sold as KlickFast are actually genuine. The only company that makes real KlickFast equipment is Peter Jones. Anything that is not made by Peter Jones should state KlickFast compatible and not just KlickFast. The majority of these unofficial items come from China and are generally male connectors that are made for specific Chinese body cameras. In many cases these may not work with official docks.

If you want to use a KlickFast body worn camera harness with your device you need to make 100% sure that it comes with a male connector or that a male connector is even available for it. Some models of The Partner and Pinnacle’s PR6 come with them as standard. The vast majority of cameras, particularly Chinese cameras do not. They will come with just the standard clips.

If a camera does not have a KlickFast stud, it is still possible that a pouch with a male connector may be available.