Can we have the footage from Thursday?
The retail client's loss prevention manager emails: a shoplifter was confronted at the entrance on Thursday afternoon and became aggressive. The guard was wearing a body-worn camera. Could you send the footage? A week later, a police officer asks for the same footage with a crime reference. A fortnight after that, the person who was confronted makes a request for footage of themselves.
The operations manager has to work out which guard was on duty, which camera they had, whether it was recording, where the footage was downloaded, and whether it has already been deleted under your retention period. The camera docking station at the site uploads to a platform that shows files by camera number and time. It takes most of a morning to find the clip, and nobody records who it was sent to.
Why footage is hard to find and control
Body-worn cameras record well. The difficulty is everything around the recording: linking a clip to an incident, a guard and a site, dealing with requests from several kinds of requester, and keeping a record of every release. The camera system knows the camera and time; your incident records know what happened; nothing joins them.
| Request from | Typical detail given | What you need to find the clip |
|---|---|---|
| Client | Day and rough time | Guard, camera number, exact time |
| Police | Crime reference and date | The incident report and the camera |
| The person recorded | Their description of the event | Enough to identify the clip, and your policy on these requests |
| Your insurer or solicitor | Claim reference | Everything linked to that incident |
How footage should be handled, released, redacted and retained is a legal matter for your company and its advisers. We do not advise on it. We build the record keeping that supports your policy.
What the current way costs
Operations time lost to searching. Footage deleted under the retention period before anyone realised it was needed, which can weaken a prosecution or a defence. Releases made without a record of who approved them and who received the clip, which is uncomfortable if a release is later questioned. And requests from people who were recorded, which have their own handling rules, dealt with inconsistently.
A footage request log linked to incidents
- Each camera is registered with its number and the guard it is issued to on each shift, from your kit register or shift booking.
- Incident reports record whether a camera was recording, so relevant footage is flagged at the time.
- Flagged footage is marked in your camera platform to be kept beyond the normal retention period, where the platform allows, or noted for manual retention.
- Requests are logged from a form or email with the requester, type of request, reference, the incident if known, and date received.
- The log suggests the likely camera and time window from the shift and incident records, so the clip can be found quickly in your camera platform.
- Release needs approval by the person your policy names. The approval, what was released, any redaction and to whom are recorded.
- Due dates for responding to requests are tracked from the rule your policy sets, with reminders.
- Every release is recorded with who approved it.
- Footage linked to an open incident is protected from routine deletion.
- Requests of each type can be reported on for your own reviews.
The same request, with the log
The loss prevention manager's email is logged. The log shows that on Thursday afternoon the guard at the entrance had camera 12, and the incident report says it was recording, so the footage was already flagged for retention. The operations manager finds the clip in minutes, the release is approved and recorded, and the clip is sent. When the police request arrives, the same incident already has the footage linked. The later request from the person recorded is logged with its due date and handled under your policy.
Do footage requests take too long?
- Finding the right clip takes hours.
- Footage is sometimes deleted before a request arrives.
- Nobody records who received footage.
- Requests from different people are handled inconsistently.
- Incident reports do not say whether a camera was recording.