For better or worse, memorable is fallible. And while eyewitness testimonies have their value in court, the gap between what we recall and what actually took place can vary greatly from one onlooker to the next.
So just how much of what witnesses say is accurate? That depends. It helps to understand that people do not store information exactly as it is presented to them. Instead, we extract the underlying meaning of what we see and experience store it in the way that makes the most sense. Moreover, researchers have found that eyewitnesses’ recall and report can be affected by psychological factors, such as stress and selective attention. And as we can well assume, witnessing a crime can cause an extremely high level of anxiety.
For example, when a weapon is used, eyewitnesses tend to focus on that one item while paying less focus to other details that might be of importance later on. As such, they may be able to describe a knife or gun in great detail, but falter when it comes to detailing the person holding it.
In short: eyewitness testimony has its place on the stand, but it can’t be relied on for the full, accurate story. As such, the value of high-quality video and audio footage cannot be understated – especially if that evidence is collected close to the incident. For this reason, law enforcement agencies across North America are finding value in using body worn cameras to capture the full dynamics of the situation via clear audio and video recordings, which can then be secured as evidence after the fact.
An eye at the scene
The usefulness of body worn cameras in law enforcement and security segments has been well established. In the US, for example, body worn solutions are becoming mandatory for law enforcement agencies as they enable officers to collect audio and images in challenging situations, while using end-to-end encryption prevents manipulation and preserves its admissibility in subsequent investigations and court cases.
Use cases for body worn cameras include:
Deterring unwanted behaviour: body worn cameras are a visible deterrent that help officers defuse tense situations. People are more likely to calm down or curb their aggressive behaviour when they know their actions are being recorded.
Beyond deterring an escalation of bad behavior, the presence of cameras in general often discourage undesired or criminal behavior entirely. For example, while banks are a target for criminals, pick-up officers and others involved in cash-in-transit can feel safer knowing that everything that is said or happens is being recorded, and thieves are less likely to target them.
Forensic investigations: Body worn cameras record incidents as they appeared to the camera wearer and as they sounded to everyone involved in the situation. As such, when an incident occurs, looking back at audio and video recording from the incident can help officers establish the cause, identify suspects, or even assess fault when it’s a case of someone’s word against someone else. When combined with traditional video surveillance, this evidence provides valuable additional insight for incident analysis.
Staff training: Real-world experiences are central to law enforcement training. Herein, sharing body-worn camera footage from an actual event is a powerful way to pass on knowledge and experience, especially when training resources are limited.
Team accountability: The lens doesn’t lie. Body-worn camera solutions prove that teams are conducting their work safely and properly and that the surrounding working environment doesn’t pose a threat. The video and audio recordings offer undisputed evidence of how situations were handled as they happened.
No doubt, compliance is key to ensuring the health and safety of staff and that processes and protocols are maintained. With tamper-proof evidence to back up officers, they and their teams are better protected against expensive liability claims.
Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, and Miss Marple all had to rely on traditional means such as fingerprints and finding a bit of fluff from the murderer’s scarf at the crime scene. But, looking back over historical crimes, if only there had been clear images, who knows how many more cases would have been solved? Fortunately, there are more reliable tools at hand to capture and relay video footage improving the ability to identify the culprits and ultimately bring them to justice.
Discover how body-worn cameras can help improve safety in cities.
This article is adapted from Axis Communications pieces written by Karin Brits and Andrea Sorri.
Learn more about Axis’ body worn camera solutions in law enforcement and beyond.
