The proliferation of video over the past few decades has been one of the most significant technological advancements for law enforcement. Video now derives from all kinds of different devices, which provides a wealth of opportunities—and challenges—for officers and detectives.

Recording video or capturing a still image is just the first link in a longer chain, though. For example, video footage also needs to be analyzed, clarified, managed, organized, and properly prepared to serve as valid evidence—all while maintaining security and chain of command. Luckily, thanks to some powerful hardware and software programs, today’s officers and investigators can perform a range of sophisticated functions without needing a computer science degree.

“Some of the biggest issues have always been things like documentation and reproducibility in a forensic environment,” said Larry Compton, digital media expert for Ocean Systems, based in Burtonsville, Maryland. “During the transition from analog to DVR up to today, the challenge is collecting the best evidence and then processing it. There are a lot of challenges and hurdles in that. Some of these [solutions] allow you to work and document everything along the way. And any technician or analyst can use it. It’s very easy to understand.”¹

Solving Problems

For the past 30 years, Ocean Systems has been providing multimedia expertise to the public safety sector. Their inaugural product was a customizable suite of video analysis tools known as dTective.

The dTective suite is still around, but now it’s joined by a range of other products. These include ClearID, a Photoshop plug-in that facilitates video and image clarification for everything from digital video to fingerprints. “It filters for analyzing evidence and clarifying evidence to provide that bigger picture for the court,” Compton explained.²

One of the most important traits in this field is versatility. Ocean’s hardware kit, Omnivore, can capture video on the spot from almost any source. That capability can save valuable time in an active investigation.

“It can be hard to get original bank video. You need special permission from corporate headquarters and that can take a while,” Compton observed. “With our field kit, you take it to the scene and it can work with any output, be it an analog or an HDMI or what have you. If they can play it, our kit can capture it uncompressed and quickly get it out on the streets without degradation. It’s access to actionable evidence. It helps tremendously to be able to process and get this information.”³

The same principle holds true in license plate and facial recognition software, where capturing images is just the beginning.

“It is not simply snapping a picture of a license plate,” said Roger Rodriguez, of Livermore, California-based Vigilant Solutions. “It gives the investigator the ability to go back in time and see where it may have been. It’s a forensic investigation analysis tool, more than just image analytics.”⁴

Vigilant’s License Plate Recognition solution gathers not only license plate images, but also data, like time and GPS coordinates. The data are stored in the company’s secure database and can potentially be used to solve crimes around the United States. “You take images and roll them into our system,” Rodriguez said. “We have a huge database, and you can compare against millions and millions of other plates.”⁵

The versatility to clarify an image in different ways is also part of what makes Vigilant’s Facial Recognition software so effective. If a facial image is not sufficiently clear, it might not be possible to compare it against entries in databases.

“There are tools to correct and enhance images,” Rodriguez said. “You can adjust posture. If the subject is not looking directly at the camera, you can turn the pose. You can color correct for lighting that may make a [database] algorithm not recognize [the facial features]. If there’s something blocking a face, you can stamp it out. If it doesn’t work the first time, you can undo it and go back and do it again.”⁶

One video-analysis challenge gaining additional public attention is redaction. With body-worn cameras and other devices producing a massive influx of video files, redaction has become a critical barrier in preserving both public privacy and public trust.

Redacting faces, license plates, and other items on a frame-to-frame basis is a fairly mind-numbing proposition. Video redaction software products do exist, but they are not always tailored to law enforcement.

Enter Motorola Solutions and its Digital Evidence Management Solution. It’s a full suite of devices and services, but one of the capabilities officials tout is its powerful redaction tool, which can work up to 25 percent faster than other software products.

“The user can identify an image, and the redaction service will find and replace all of them throughout,” explained Rohan Galloway-Dawkins, product director of intelligence-led public safety solutions for the Chicago-based corporation. “It’s also not just ‘tell me when you see a gun.’ It’s ‘tell me when you see a specific kind of gun.’”⁷

With the Digital Evidence Management Solution offering customers the ability to create images and video, and store and manipulate the files and associated data within one solution, Galloway-Dawkins said it’s a safer and more efficient way to handle video for its ultimate use. “What sets us apart a little bit is the integrated nature of the analytics solution,” Galloway-Dawkins said. “It’s all in our evidence management solution. Users don’t have to move outside the chain of custody or

that one single environment. We can track what happens there and who did what. There’s no ambiguity there.”⁸  

Transparency and security in all phases of the process, particularly in a video and image context, can be more important issues than ever, and they are elements many vendors are paying close attention to.

“We promote transparency, best practices, and accountability,” Rodriguez said. “We don’t want anyone to just run a plate or a face. We show who is using the system and why and when. These are lead generators, and they require follow-up and oversight from detectives.”⁹

Ease of Use

As Galloway-Dawkins puts it, “the most powerful algorithm we’ve ever come up with means nothing if no one understands how to use it.”¹⁰ This succinctly explains why most vendors place a premium on user-friendliness, even in a field as technically complex as video analysis.

“The beauty of these tools is you don’t need to be tech savvy,” Rodriguez said. “There are easy interfaces. If you can draw a circle and work Google maps, you can do License Plate Recognition. If you can do any basic photo editing on your smartphone, you can do pre-processing on Facial Recognition.”¹¹

Jaime Carlin, principal for strategic communications at WatchGuard Video in Allen, Texas, said her company spends $1 million each month on research and development. That goes not only toward technological muscle, but also toward making sure that almost anyone can use the company’s products, which include body-worn cameras, in-car cameras, and various video software solutions.

“It’s a simple and easy interface for officers, but there’s a really robust tool behind it,” she said. “It’s an integrated and synchronized in-car system…The in-car and the body cameras are working together.”¹²

Even a “simple” button-operated camera can be difficult to manipulate under life-and-death conditions. WatchGuard recognizes that risk, and allows equipment to capture video even when the camera is not on. “We don’t want officers to worry about pushing a button when his or her life or a member of the public’s life is in danger,” Carlin said. “They can go back after and capture it.”¹³

The company’s SmartConnect software also makes life easier for investigators in the field by allowing them to immediately see and analyze video. “SmartConnect would be on a smart device and allows officers to review video and classify it on their phone so they don’t have to wait,” Carlin said. “It saves them time.”¹⁴

Time-saving, easy to use, and reliable are all important qualities in video and image management solutions. As this type of evidence continues to flow into law enforcement agencies from more device types and in higher volumes than ever before, it’s essential that agencies are able to access and select storage, processing, and security solutions that serve their current and emerging needs.

Notes:

¹Larry Compton (digital media sales, Ocean Systems), telephone interview, June 20, 2017.

²Ibid.

³Ibid.

⁴Roger Rodriguez (Vigilant Solutions), telephone interview, June 19, 2017.

⁵Ibid.

⁶Ibid.

⁷Rohan Galloway-Dawkins (product director, Motorola Solutions), telephone interview, June 21, 2017.

⁸Ibid.

⁹Rodriguez, telephone interview, June 19, 2017.

¹⁰Galloway-Dawkins, telephone interview, June 21, 2017.

¹¹Rodriguez, telephone interview, June 19, 2017

¹²Jaime Carlin (principal, strategic communications, WatchGuard Video), telephone interview, June 20, 2017.

¹³Ibid.

¹⁴Ibid.