https://www.americancityandcounty.com/wp-content/themes/acc_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcast
    • Latest videos
    • Product Guides
  • Resources & Events
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • Municipal Cost Index – Archive
    • Equipment Watch Page
    • American City & County Awards
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of Service
American City and County
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcasts
    • Latest videos
    • Product Guides
  • Resources/Events
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers/eBooks
    • IWCE Expo
    • Calendar of Events
    • How to Contribute
    • American City & County Awards
    • Municipal Cost Index
    • Equipment Watch Page
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Stament
    • Terms of Service
  • newsletter
  • Administration
  • Economy & Finance
  • Procurement
  • Public Safety
  • Public Works & Utilities
  • Smart Cities & Technology
  • Magazine
acc.com

Public Safety


Article

Police video storage setups: Some important considerations (with related video)

Police video storage setups: Some important considerations (with related video)

Lieutenant Daniel Zehnder of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department talks about police video storage issues and trends.
  • Written by Michael Keating
  • 16th June 2016

GPN checked in with Lieutenant Daniel Zehnder of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to find out about police video storage trends and issues. Zehnder has been with the department for 19 years. He is currently program manager for the department’s body camera group. He is affiliated with the department’s Program Management and Video Bureau.

The Las Vegas police use Axon video equipment with video storage on the Evidence.com cloud setup. The contract, licensing and storage fees are through TASER Corp., and through the firm’s portal in the cloud. Axon is a business unit of Taser International. Below are Lt. Zehnder’s views.

GPN: How many terabytes does the department use to store video?

Daniel Zehnder: Right now we are at a little over 4 terabytes. We’ve got 200 body cameras deployed now; we currently have no dashboard cameras. As we’ve gone through our fielding process, we’ve seen the terabyte storage numbers go up. It’s a hard number to pin down when comparing agencies because of internal procedures and varying laws about video retention. Both of those factors can affect storage levels greatly.
Editor’s note: 1 terabyte = 1,024 gigabytes

GPN: What are your views on police video storage in the cloud compared to storage on local servers?

DZ: You have to weigh the cost-benefit of cloud storage vs. storage on local servers. But in my opinion, as a non-tech person, I think cloud is the way to go, though I have some concerns about security in the cloud. Nothing is non-hackable. I expect there are leaks in any cloud storage system, no matter the department.

In response to your query whether a hacker would get anything of value from breaking into our system and getting our video? —I question the value of that

for hackers.

GPN: Do you have any advice for police/local government on choosing a vendor for police video archive setup that’s tied to police cameras?

DZ: I tell folks you’ve got to have a plan. There are always some debates. Folks tend to fixate on the hardware of a system, and they have to take a step back. Everybody’s in a rush to put body cameras on cops and that could be a very expensive proposition if you fail to do it properly. Because once you start down the road, you can’t go back. You can’t tell the community, ‘OK, we are going to put body cams on our officers. Oh wait, it costs too much—Now we aren’t going to do it.’

That’s just not acceptable, so you really have to have a plan—and you have to put together some smart folks in your department to come up with a plan, and look at how you are going to use these cams in your department. Who’s going to wear them? What are the department’s legal requirements for retention?

GPN: Is there a place for a certified police video archivist in departments? Do we need a certification program for police video archivists?

DZ: Absolutely—in the future, I think something will happen — maybe we’ll have another Ferguson, Mo., and, it’s incumbent on every agency to remind the community that this isn’t like a TV show—you don’t have the cop’s TV or video crew right next to you. The video—it bounces around when the officer is chasing someone.  The video doesn’t capture everything.

But if the community doesn’t feel the video is capturing everything it should, or if citizens can’t go back and review the video in a spirit of transparency, police may be mandated by legislation to retain video for indefinite periods of time, and you see this already happening in some places. That’s fine until the bill comes due for the taxpayer. So yes, a certified archivist could provide some of the safeguards needed for securing and protecting police video.

In the video, officials from Microsoft and TASER discuss how the two companies are partnering together to provide secure and compliant cloud video storage for law enforcement.

_____________

To get connected and stay up-to-date with similar content from American City & County:
Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter
Watch us on Youtube

Tags: Public Safety Smart Cities & Technology Article

Most Recent


  • Homelessness
    Report: Police response to homelessness is inherently punitive
    Clearing encampments and arresting those living on the streets might temporarily remove homelessness from the public eye, but it doesn’t help unhoused residents retain housing or recover their longterm stability. Even so, a new policy brief from the researchers behind Boston University’s annual Menino Survey of Mayors finds the majority of American cities still rely […]
  • citizen
    How to move to a citizen-focused engagement model
    We know that engaged citizens play a critical role in helping make government agencies more transparent, more effective and more accountable. In fact, putting increased attention on digital government services and the citizen experience was ranked as one of the biggest changes that state chief information officers expected to continue post-pandemic. But too often, many […]
  • crisis
    Navigating crises with confidence: Five ways strategic plans support crisis response
    Some crises are short-lived, barging through our lives and routines, and before we can get a sense of what’s happened, we’re left dealing with the aftermath. But many crises build slowly, with many early warning signs, and once they’vehit their breaking point, panic and uncertainty overwhelm the ability of leaders to think clearly and mitigate […]
  • digital
    How to leverage digital tools to drive innovation in government
    The rapid evolution of digital technologies transformed the way governments function, making them more efficient, transparent and citizen-friendly. Rather than relying on crystal trophies, governments can leverage digital tools to drive innovation and streamline processes, benefiting the population they serve. Open data and crowdsourcing Open data refers to making government data available to the public, […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your American City and County account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • How governments can keep employees safe as they return to work
  • Preventing cyber-attacks needs to be a priority for local governments
  • Building community and officer wellness through data sharing
  • California city combines advanced technology with dedicated public safety team for comprehensive emergency management

White papers


5 reasons why Plan Examiners need Objective Trapeze

30th May 2023

7 Permitting & Licensing Fails Slowing Community Growth

24th May 2023

The Secret Ingredient to Local Government Employee Retention

23rd May 2023
view all

Webinars


How to Centralize and Build a Grants Management Process at your Organization

24th May 2023

Making Permitting Easier: What We’ve Learned Helping America’s Largest Cities Improve Their Permitting Process

16th May 2023

Digital Property Tax Collection: Tales from the Trenches of Modernization

16th May 2023
view all

PODCAST


Young Leaders Episode 4 – Cyril Jefferson – City Councilman, High Point, North Carolina

13th October 2020

Young Leaders Episode 3 – Shannon Hardin – City Council President, Columbus, Ohio

27th July 2020

Young Leaders Episode 2 – Christian Williams – Development Services Planner, Goodyear, Ariz.

1st July 2020
view all

GALLERIES


10 best suburbs for city-like living

1st June 2023

Gallery: Annual index ranks America’s top performing cities; most are in the West

30th May 2023

Gallery: Top 10 American cities for seasonal and summer jobs

25th May 2023
view all

Twitter


Newsletters

Sign up for American City & County’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about local governments.

Resale Insights Dashboard

The Resale Insights Dashboard provides model-level data for the entire used equipment market to help you save time and money.

Municipal Cost Index

Updated monthly since 1978, our exclusive Municipal Cost Index shows the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital audience? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IWCE’s Urgent Communications
  • IWCE Expo

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us

FOLLOW American City and County ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.