The potential to provide quality evidence that can be shared easily by Criminal Justice System partners is a game changer. Video evidence in court can capture the raw emotion of an incident, along with valuable victim and witness evidence. Highly charged situations can affect a person’s ability to recall events with certainty, and the camera is proving to be a reliable impartial witness.
Liz Griffiths, Business Development Manager in the United Kingdom, attended the Security & Policing event in the UK earlier this year. One key theme that emerged was the increasing use of Body Worn Video (BWV). The Metropolitan Police alone issue the equipment to over 22,000 frontline officers.
Research from the University of Cambridge and RAND Europe shows that the majority of police view BWV’s use positively. Complaints against the police are down and amount of people “caught red-handed” are up. There’s strong evidence that the use of video in policing has decreased the time taken to secure a conviction, too. Domestic violence cases in the UK have been especially impacted, with a huge increase in guilty pleas from perpetrators once they see that they been recorded on camera.
There are challenges with video in security and policing, though. Effective annotation of collected video for fast retrieval is a struggle for local authorities and police forces. Data control teams have to meet with compliance standards to secure long-term storage and transfer when requested for transcription. But while these issues are being resolved, we expect to see an increased use of video evidence presented within the courts.
Appen helps solve these challenges. Not only can we transcribe interviews quickly and effectively, but we can also capture specific body language to help achieve best evidence. Our clients, including government agencies, police forces, and local authorities, trust Appen to provide secure transcription and recording services for digital audio and video. With our secure facilities that are ISO 27001 and 9001 certified, you can rest assured that your data will remain secure. Contact us to discuss your transcription needs today.
