Issue of Concern



In a world where every Tom, Dick and Harry has some sort of video-capable device, from cellphones to camcorders to security cameras with CCTV, the storage of video footages is of great concern. Concerns usually revolve on:

* Physical storage of the tapes and discs

* Memory space

* Video segregation - what to keep, what to throw

* Statutory limitations

When you come to think of it, most CCTV footages will not be of great concern to you and to your family and for your office particularly when the video grab is of the mundane variety. Then again, you have been in enough situations where things are there when you see no need for them, you throw them away, and then a few days later, you find great use for them. If only you haven't disposed of them is a constant refrain.

Keep It, Store It

Your office can implement policies on the storage of CCTV footages, which you can loosely implement in your home. Most offices store and retain security videos on the basis of:

* Number of days

* Amount of activity

* Assessment of security personnel

* Storage space available

* Litigation purposes

In the latter case, CCTV videos are retained for an indefinite period of time for the purpose of recovering any and all evidence related to criminal activity. Often, the investigating authorities will keep said videos, peruse them for additional and complementary evidence, and present them in the court of law, where admissible as such. In fact, many criminals have been captured and prosecuted based on video evidence from security cameras!

There are cases when you have to store your video footages for research purposes. For example, you can analyze employee movements to determine productivity and performance, weed out undesirable activities, and catch a thief in action. Of course, you have to be very careful where you place the security cameras because employees under surveillance have rights, too.

In the home, you can discard videos that you do no want; you have more leeway in this area as nobody but you set the rules when it comes to disposing of undesirable videos. Remember when you barfed all over the driveway and went on a drunken rampage? You might want to throw the tape away.

Storage Options

In a world where choices abound, you can choose to store your CCTV footages in:

* Hard drives

* Compact discs

* Video cassette tapes

Of course, hard drive storage is best since you can compress data to allow for more bits and bytes to go in there. But compact discs and video cassette tapes are equally acceptable albeit a little bit bulkier and riskier - these can be stolen and there goes your evidence.

The quality of recordings depends on a lot of factors like compression ratios and image size, which your friendly neighborhood vendor of video recorders can tell you more about.

Ultimately, storing and retaining your video footages is as important, if not more important, as maintaining the surveillance cameras in tip-top condition.