VIDEO Evidence

[horizon]

Just wondering, if presented evidence in the form of Video footage, what would you expect to be included to make it A1 evidentially, ie clarity, voice? etc etc

[FranD]

Just for starters, date and time stamped and unedited

[NIBSSS]

Having used video evidence in court only last month they wanted it showing the date and time also the camera you used if it’s a hand held, and above all you must have the original tape or disc, luckily we had all of the above or the judge was going to throw it out

Dougie

[Mansonross]

Hello Horizon,

The footage has to be clear enough for the individual to be identifiable, if they can reasonably deny that they are the person in the footage then it becomes worthless. Audio is not required if it is not needed, but if your camera records audio automatically be careful what you say as it may be played in court (don't forget good comms protocol).
As has been said, the date and time stamp and imperative (make sure it is correct! If more than one camera is being used then double check that the date and time are the same).
If you are using tape: use a new tape for every job, do not reuse a tape to save a couple of quid.
Label your tape and box, remember, this tape is the evidence and not the DVDs you make from it.
You must show control of the evidence, i.e., it should be stored is a locked and secure place and logged in and out as required. It would be worthwhile bringing the logbook with you to court.
Also, and importantly, the person(s) who took the footage should be available to appear at court.
I know some agencies who use one tape for many cases: this is poor practice and should not be done.

[davew877]

Make it an SOP that you synchronise all camera/camcorder clocks with the talking clock before deployment.

[AthenaIntelligence]

We are refering to tape recorded video - a number of cameras on the market no longer use tape or even DVD.

Anyone had experience of presenting evidence recorded direct onto hard disk/memory stick? Will a court accept certified copy onto DVD if DT Stamp is present?

[romark]

Horizon!
What kind of case is it? Not the full details obviously! Civil or criminal? Do you need the audio since you mentioned it.

[romark]

Athenaintellgence.

The use of digal stuff is very far from being clarified in the courts.
Do you keep a £60 hard drive or a £10 sd card for each and every case?
From my experiance it all depends on the job and the court you may end up in.

Anything to do with the police has to of course be time and date stamped but also with a frame counter. A copy is usually made onto DVD and is then authorised as the first copy and kept for evidence. For anything serious the whole kit would be put in the eidence bag.

Most of my work is insurance fraud, industrial espionage and HR long term abscence and up till now have used kit that doesn't have a frame count and just used the first dvd copy as evidence. No probs. I must add that I do not record the sound onto the dvd unless it is of evidencial value. I have found judges obviously dont like viewing hours of your foot or inside your jacket pocket but it all adds to credibillity so dont delete too many scenes!!

I have done some work for a local council setting up covert camera's aimed at fly tipping. This was done both with hard drives and sd cards. I captured not only fly tippers but also a gang stelling plant machinery and someone changing number plates before going bilking.

The plant machinery was on hard drive which because of the old equipment I had to download onto a PV 500(has frame counter) in real time. The sd card was retained as evidence and accepted in court.

The fly tipping and bilking was on sd card which I downloaded onto DVD with no frame counter. This too was accepted.

Never had any probs with video up to date as really the picture tells a story and even the best defence barrister can't discredit you unless something else looks dodgy.

Hope this helps.

[isstraining]

Athena,

Quick reply cos go to go out!

The best evidence is the 'Best Evidence' or simply the original recording. However.

If you have video footage on a DVR or SD card, transfer the whole lot to a CD or DVD with out any editing.

This is classed as your working and master copy.

From this you can now make other copies or edits and store them as you wish (but retain the working master as it is).

You can then erase the DVR or reformat the SD if you wish and re-use.

If the video footage is required for Court. You will have to make a Section 9 Statement stating on it, words to the effect of:

'The original video recording was captured and stored on a Digital Video Recorder. This data was transferred in its entirety to a DVD which I now attach as Exhibit PIJ1'.

We work with a few Agencies that do this all the time and it is now accepted procedure by the Courts.

The grey area associated with this when digital still and video first came in is now black & white. Give me a shout if you want a sample Statement.

Cheers

Pete

[No, the other North!]

Wot Peter said.

You may not be working for 'authority', but the following is best practice for 'proof beyond reasonable doubt'. Work to this standard and you'll walk all over any lesser tribunal.

National protocol for Police, C&E and so on, agreed with the Courts, is that recording media is too expensive to keep the original 'Gold' copy pending trial. All digital media has to be copied (in its entireity) into a suitable format, e.g write-once read-many DVD, or 'Silver' copy, from which you make make edits for briefing, pre-trial review w.h.y on your 'Bronze' media. This might encompass a number of different types of media, but the Gold can be taken into re-use immediately. Handy for those big SD drives or HDD camcorders.
Your records should show - time/date recording began, reasons for being 'off', reasons for being 'on', time/date ended, time/date copied, time/date erased and ready for re-use, and the operators responsible for each stage.
If you try to pass off an edit as the original, any scientist worth his salt will have the case thrown out pronto.
Records should also show make model and serial of equipment in use, whether or not in full working order, if any material faults arose during use.
Finally, if you are going to end up in a courtroom, the evidence is 'yours', not your camera's. You will have to describe all that you saw, the final phrase being "and I made a video recording to corroborate all that I saw, which I can produce as an exhibit".
Defence should be allowed early supervised pre-trial access to your records and a full Bronze copy media, this normally stops it actually having to be played in court and often forces a guilty plea. Don't let them take it away, they'll only try to identify or compromise anyone who assisted you with premises to work from. Good camera work and tradecraft will minimise this risk.
If it does have to be played, it's down to you to ensure the court has got the correct players (Judge, jury, prosecution, defence) for the media you are presenting. 'Course, you can always make another Bronze copy in the right format, last one I was at was still on Magic Lanterns, might have well as made a flick-book.