Cam Review

[Mr. Chaple Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mr. Chaple]

Does anyone here have any methods or tricks they use for more quickly and efficiently reviewing C.C.T.V. footage? In the last two weeks I have had I have had 3 employees report damage to their vehicles that might be vandalism, and might have occurred in the parking lot we use sometime during their 9 hr shifts.
Due to a unique arrangement my client does not own any of the property we operate on, they "rent it" from the city, and my job is to protect employees and client property. As such I can refuse to assist them, but I feel that helping them in these situations could go a long way towards improving their confidence in me.
This is of particular concern to me because my recently replaced the very popular, and very competent site supervisor here. However trying to review 9 hours of repeating patter pan tilt zoom camera footage is not something I can easily accomplish while seeing to my regular duties; especially not while still trying to learn the specifics of my supervisory duties here.

Thank You.

[Rooney Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rooney]

Normally when I have to review long periods of cctv footage I will do the following:

1. Determine the location of the incident within the frame of view.
2. Fast forward about an hour at a time until I notice something has changed.
3. Go back and forward in increments unitl I get the footage of the incident.

Now this works good for DVR footage. Tapes it will be slower.

If the vandalism would not be noticable doing this method, you may want to do a fast forward seek type of viewing until you see individuals within the frame. Talk to the people that were vandalised and see if you can get a narrower time frame.

[CameraMan Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close CameraMan]

Good one.

There's no trick to it- you just have to review it.

First off, try to narrow it down. If you can skip to a specific time on your sytem, go to the begining of each hour, and see if you can figure out which hour the incident occured- if the car is fine at 1500 and smashed at 1600, you've figured out which hour you need to focus your efforts on.

After that, review the hour at slower and slower speeds until you're catch the incident. Watch the timestamp so you know when to start reviewing it in realtime.

By the way, I hope the time and date is accurate- if it isn't, you're farqed, at least as far as evidentiary purposes are concerned.

Do not change the time and date yet, though, even if it is innacurate, till you've reviewed and archived (ie saved) the footage.

In other words- go to the bathroom, get some coffee, a donut, a pen and some paper, and sit in a comfy chair- you're in for some work.

Hope this helps.

[Badge714 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Badge714]

Do what I do when I need to review a lot of video. I assign one of my guards do it.

[bpdblue Member Find all posts View Profile Close bpdblue]

R.h.i.p.

Badge714, you have mastered R.H.I.P. (Rank has it's privileges.)

[Badge714 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Badge714]

Badge714, you have mastered R.H.I.P. (Rank has it's privileges.)

You got that right! The trick is using it without abusing it.

[NRM_Oz Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close NRM_Oz]

Badge ........... smart move. When I was a store LPM I had my Senior LPO or LPS review the footage as I wanted it found and checked twice. I often would review footage from my office on the 26" tv I had for interviews. Now in my current role, I still review footage even if it is digital and I can do this on my notebook - but there is no way of speeding things up without knowing the approximate time period of the incident.

[Mr. Chaple Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mr. Chaple]

The main problem I was having is that my cameras are on a on repeat patterns. Due to the movement of the camera fast forwarding it reduces it to a blur, and the damage was not the type to stand out (slashed tires). I ended up just having to review the entire day's recording on the more credible one. It ended up being endeavor. It had been raining and the light reflecting off the water kept me from being able to see clearly anyway.