Corporate Surveillance Systems Consultation

Update Your Security Camera Systems to Ensure Your Video Evidence is Helpful in Court

Many companies have outdated surveillance cameras and software installed on their property. Those surveillance systems might be the only difference between winning or losing a multimillion dollar lawsuit, so why would a business leave such outdated cameras installed?


Companies initially spend a great deal of time to research and purchase security camera systems, and they are reluctant to update because, well, let’s be honest, it’s annoying — time consuming, disruptive to many aspects of their business, and possibly expensive. Making changes in the cameras or the Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) can cause a domino affect with the need to purchase updated computers, install new cables, and pay for higher capacity internet connections. Technology may change tremendously, improving possibilities of asset protection, and yet companies are still averse to upgrade. When we work on video surveillance cases for clients, we see the results of this inertia every day.

What do we see with outdated security equipment? Frame rates are so low that evidence is worthless to determine what happened, cameras without night vision miss important images, and cameras with such low resolution that it is impossible to make face identification.

Businesses install surveillance systems and never touch them again — not to check if they are still working, not to update software, and not to upgrade cameras. The cameras in these cases may be 3 to 6 years old, and from the perspective of security camera technology, that’s the dark ages.

That is before high quality night vision cameras, before ethernet technology and the internet had evolved to allow fast frame rates and high resolution, and before live streaming and recorded playback was possible to portable phones. It was before most security cameras had built in storage for video surveillance. And if cameras did allow for adding internal storage, the size of memory was so limited as to be unhelpful in most corporate situations.

Today, security cameras have evolved into high definition wonders, with the potential for hundreds of gigabytes of direct flash memory storage built into each camera. The ability to access these cameras over the net, with high resolution HD video, super fast internet speeds, and with increased security and protection, has increased dramatically.

If your company has a surveillance system installed, and you are considering an upgrade, it makes sense to speak with us about advising you on the decision. Since we analyze surveillance systems and videos every day for clients facing legal proceedings, our experience and knowledge can help you make the right decisions. You are trying to protect yourself from multi-million dollar lawsuits, so you should do this right. Make a careful decision about a system that matches your company’s security needs, and when an incident occurs at your business, make sure to make a plan for handling potentially crucial recordings.

Will your video evidence be usable in court?

In addition, your plan for managing this system, with protection from purposeful or accidental evidence loss by your employees, must sustain the rigors of evidence requirements by a judge in court.Chain of evidence is crucial in a situation where the company must prove a crime or lack thereof to a judge and satisfy the judge’s demands for records showing a clear chain of custody.

What we do

Our team is available to assess your goals and your current surveillance system and to give options toward improvement, whether it involves suggestions for adjusting settings, placing cameras in better locations, using different lenses, or buying entirely new cameras and DVR technology.