Managing video evidence – moving from cumbersome to easy!
There is a myriad of video surveillance solutions available to organizations seeking to protect their assets. Video management systems (VMS) have matured to a point where the collection of video and on-site storage is straight forward. Selecting and replaying video within a VMS is typically a standard feature with most offerings. Modern investigations, whether internal or external, increasingly require organizations to share digital evidence outside the VMS.
In a retail setting, a customer may become injured after a slip and fall. Was it a legitimate injury or a frivolous insurance claim? Archived video can typically reveal the true nature of the event. A Legal department may request the footage to share during court proceedings. Most corporate security departments or whoever is entrusted with managing the VMS must dedicate time and resources to extract the desired footage and place it on removable media such as a DVD or USB stick. This process is laborious, hard to monitor and slow. The process restarts any time there is a request for additional footage or a different video format to align with the end user’s technical requirements. It is common for large organisations to have dedicated personnel for the “DVD team”, sapping much needed resources from the security team.
Public sector agencies have a similar video management issue when conducting their own investigations. After a significant crime, law enforcement agencies are often required to send uniformed officers into the community to gather videos from nearby businesses, residences, or witnesses.
RCAS can provide consulting and implementation services for either of these operational scenarios. Systems such as Genetec Clearance address both sectors’ issues with a cloud-based service that makes sharing or collecting video in a time efficient manner feasible. All video is managed to an evidentiary standard should it be required in legal proceedings bolstered by a robust audit trail. Video format compatibility issues are no longer an issue as the system can provide the video in whatever format best suits the end user.
