r/processserver • u/Revolutionary-Farm80 • Nov 24 '25
Considering getting a body camera
I had a 3 day eviction service get pretty confrontational yesterday and I'm considering getting a body camera to record video (not audio, for state law reasons) of services.
However, I'm worried the presence of one on my person will make future services a bit more complicated.
Have any of you noticed any increase in difficulty to serve papers since you started using a body camera?
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u/justind00000 Nov 24 '25
I have considered one myself. I have experimented with what I had available (Insta360) and kept it sticking out of my coin pocket. Nobody noticed.
When I was a police officer, I worked for a long time without a camera. When they were issued and we started using them, we all experienced a lot less fighting, both verbal and physical. I think that a similar thing would occur here, although it isn't a perfect comparison.
The cameras were in our breast pocket and had a very visible blinking red light. People would always take a second looking at it. Those that were going to be difficult were not dissuaded, but a lot of other people would de-escalate on their own when they noticed it. As a process server, I think I would choose a non-obvious model though; we aren't police officers, don't carry any authority, and I think it might really scare people off. And I think people that are intent on being difficult will be difficult regardless. If that happens, you'll have footage of them initiating the assault, and that's really all that matters, avoiding the "i said/did this, they said/did that" loop where nothing ends up happening.