NCAVF was featured in a news report by San Diego 6 News, about what forensic investigators are doing to solve the Boston Bombings.

Click here to watch, and the transcript is below.

 

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MALE ANCHOR:  And as investigators sort through numerous leads in Boston, they are also asking for more in the form of photo…photos and video recordings.  Nancy Aziz joins us in-studio with how videotape evidence may play a role in capturing the suspect.  Nancy?

NANCY AZIZ:  Well every bit of video of the scene may prove to hold crucial information.  Experts tell us that things that don’t seem important right now, may end up being key to the investigation.  So the FBI is asking the public to hand over any video or pictures of the scene, and experts will pour over every bit of it, looking for clues.

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NA (VOICE-OVER):  Boston authorities will be sifting through a mountain of evidence, as they search for who’s responsible.  Still-pictures, cell phone video, surveillance tapes.

DAVID NOTOWITZ:  It’s a huge task, enormous task, a lot of man-hours…

NA (VO):  David Notowitz, founder of the National Center for Audio & Visual Forensics in Los Angeles, offered his insights into how the process may work.  He says investigators will likely start at the blast site, and work out from there.

DN (VO):  So, for example, you see someone arrive to this location that’s suspicious, well, lets track them backwards in time.  Which street did they come down?  Which surveillance caught them coming down the street?  Maybe they came through a subway, maybe they came through..they went through a hardware store.

NA (VO):  Video of the day of the event will prove important, as may video captured days, even weeks, before.

DN:  You want to look for people that are meandering, in a strange way, taking pictures, taking measurements.

NA (VO):  Notowitz says audio of the blast themselves, may also provide clues.

DN (VO):  They’ll know, maybe by the sound of it, if they get close enough to that bomb, what that device was.

NA (VO):  Notowitz says there are tools investigators can use to enhance both audio and video.

DN (VO):  So we’ll zoom in on the screen, we’ll…you know, affect contrast, we will play with the brightness, we will, with audio, take audio and filter out background noise.

NA (VO):  Even evidence that seems insignificant by itself may prove valuable, Notowitz says, when layered in a timeline, so that audio from one source, offers clues to video from another.

DN (VO):  It builds on itself in a very interesting way, so that if you get multi-layers, and multi-screens going on at the same time with all this evidence, each piece will sometimes inform the other.

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NA:  And we are told it’s crucial law enforcement get a hold of any video surveillance tapes within the next week, that’s important because many surveillance systems automatically destroy recordings every few days.  Experts also say it’s important the video is saved in the highest quality form possible, so it’s as clear as can be.  Live in-studio, Nancy Aziz, San Diego 6 news.

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