Most recent examples of surveillance audio and video surrounding our lives include:
- Police video surveillance trucks being deployed into high crime areas — police in Fort Lauderdale Florida call them “Peacemakers,” and on the side of the truck is a message reading, “Warning: You are under video surveillance. These trucks live stream video to the department.”
- Police across the country already utilize body-worn audio recorders. Also quite common for law enforcement are in-car video recording systems. Now, as technology shrinks and battery power increases, departments are testing wearable video camera systems. The devices are tamper proof — so nothing can be erased by the officer — and therefore better as evidence in court.
- Police are now registering civilian security cameras and creating area maps of the systems. In February I was contacted by my local community police officer — I started the Neighborhood Watch on our block — asking me to register my home security camera system and to forward the request to those on my block. The department’s goal is to have a catalog of civilian surveillance systems to be able to better investigate crimes in our area.
Whether it’s criminal trials or civil litigation the courts are undergoing an interesting shift. More security cameras are capturing incidents and the video is showing up in front of judge and jury. Good thing we make excellent audio and video presentations for court!