The Video Revolution; Business, Broadcast, Surveillance, Security and Sales

From the upcoming book, “Caught On Video”

The world of video has become a way of life.  What once was a verbal society has become a visual society.  Humans began speaking, then advanced to writing.  The transmission of thoughts through speech became more advanced, too. The telegraph gave us the ability to communicate to others from a distance.  Radio then sent our thoughts over airwaves without wires. Images were projected using light onto screens that brought our thoughts to life! 

I don’t know about you, but I think this is all pretty amazing!

Video camera manufacturers had a vision that families would want a way to capture family events just like the previous decade had captured family events with movie cameras.  That is where I believe the video revolution began. Video camera manufacturers were right-- video cameras soon became present at nearly every major family event.

First there were movies, then television, and now many forms of video. Both analog and digital video has become a way of life in just about every private and public situation.  We use cameras at family events, to look at our drains for while doing home repairs, and for medical applications looking at the inside of our bodies.  We see cameras in public to patrol our streets to keep us safe; in stores, banks, sports arenas, and even on telephone poles to look at traffic conditions.

Video hit critical mass when Hollywood decided to use it as a medium to distribute movies. Much of what you see in theaters today is from high quality video projection--soon to become High Definition video projection--brought to the theater through wireless transmission. The advancement of video can seem to be moving faster than the speed of light.  

Today, surveillance CCTV (Closed circuit television systems) and PDA’s have joined in on the video revolution.  Cell phones can even record video at a moment’s notice.  To date, nearly every human activity has been caught on video at one time or another.  Executions and evangelism, sex, news, wars, crime, our kids growing up, and family vacations have all been caught on video.  As a nation, the United States has had front row seating for several major wars, court trials and even funerals like those of Princess Diana and Michael Jackson.

When Oasis singer Noel Gallagher was attacked on stage in Toronto in 2008, a great phenomenon occurred.  That night after the concert, dozens if not hundreds of videos recorded on cell phones of his on stage attack were posted on You Tube.

In a 2009blog post from YouTube, 20 hours of video are uploaded every minute.  People have made YouTube their online video home. This is the equivalent of Hollywood releasing over 86,000 new full-length movies into theaters each week.

Early television is like today’s modern digital videoconferencing. Two closed circuit television systems are connected by a wire or by dish and wireless transmission. I am sure you have seen news reporters broadcast from the scene of a crime or accident using this same technology.

This technology is also used for security today for closed circuit television systems. CCTV systems can be viewed live or recorded to a digital video recorder and viewed at a later date, just like television programming. Video is a great security tool.

Video as well as closed circuit television systems were traditionally recorded on VHS tape.  Today both systems use digital video recorders. DVR’s record video programming on a hard drive, very similar to computer hard drives. Often times that video information is transferred to DVD discs for viewing on other systems at later dates.  In the last ten years, video has served law enforcement, courts and private businesses very well.   

I am a huge video buff as well as a video forensic expert.  Much of the video that is presented in litigation stands by itself and a video forensic expert is not needed. However, litigators consult with video forensic experts when they feel something is just not right or they don’t understand some of the recorded information. Video forensic experts are educated, knowledgeable and experts at helping litigators understand the multi faceted aspect of video.

I have seen recorded video help litigation for over 17 years.  CCTV video has helped determine where a fire started, who the person was on the video recording at a certain time coordinate, and exactly how a slip and fall happened.

Video in the courtroom is a great aid when the truth about a situation needs to be discovered and understood. A video forensic expert’s activity is priceless when questions are asked about the operation of the CCTV system or when only a portion of the video footage is presented as evidence casting doubt on the prosecution or defense. Video does not lie, or does it?

I have been retained on cases for the defense where only a portion of available video footage was provided from a situation that was completely covered.  This works against the defense because part of the evidence is missing.  I have been asked by National Geographic to examine UFO footage. However, video alteration is not always distinctive and obvious.

Video is like a new language that we all need to speak going forward in 2012. It will entertain, educate, motivate, keep you safe, help your litigation and even grow your business. Take the time this year to learn a little about the power of video because we have truly hit the video revolution!

CCTV Camera Grid Solves Mystery

Whenever I am asked to review some CCTV system footage to help identify the activity and people in the footage, I begin with creating a camera grid.  A CCTV camera grid is a layout of all closed circuit cameras with their location and proximity to the activity and people in the recording.

There are several types of CCTV cameras, one of which is a point tilt zoom camera.  These PTZ cameras are made to follow the action as directed by their security (or loss prevention) operators.

In one case I was asked to review several cameras from a department store that covered a shop lifter.  Several of the cameras were an extremely high quality PTZ camera and actually followed the suspect around the store. Since the CCTV system was digital, the footage looked amazing and needed very little clarification.

What the case did need was a camera grid.  Working for the defense in this case, we had a series of events that needed to be determined that would help negotiate a plea.  So I set off to draw the store layout on a piece of paper and layout the cameras numbering them as I went. We were able to determine which cameras were in what area of the store so when the suspect passed through those areas a second time, we knew to look at the previous cameras for any other activity that could be seen outside of the main coverage area.

Then two great breaks came when we found camera shots in unlikely places that showed us a series of events as they actually occurred on other cameras in addition to the main camera in that specific coverage area.

By starting your video forensic examination with a camera grid, you can discover a lot more about your CCTV video footage than by simply relying on the obvious cameras for each series of events.

Lastly, keep in mind that nearby businesses like convenience stores and gas stations have exterior CCTV systems that may have video recordings that can help your case. A video forensic expert can enlarge and clarify footage that is in the distance that might help add evidence to support your case.  Remember, it’s about the preponderance of the evidence. All we have to do in any case is tip the scale slightly to address and establish a reasonable doubt. 

http://www.VideoForensicExpert.com

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