Tips when working with video evidence
Now that we’ve established what issues can commonly arise when working with video evidence, we can start looking at ways how to mitigate them or eliminate them altogether.
1. Maintain the chain of custody
For the court to deem the video evidence presented as admissible, it’s imperative to maintain the chain of custody at all times. This is a well-documented process that provides the necessary insight into:
- Who has come in contact with it
- At what time
- What the purpose was
- The digital forensics approach used
- etc.
This will drastically reduce the chances the court finds any kind of fault in it and thus render it inadmissible.
2. Verify the integrity of the footage
The integrity of the video evidence must be unquestionable and it must be presented in its original form. A common rookie mistake is to re-record the video footage displayed through a smartphone camera – an experienced forensic video analyst knows that quality can suffer drastically as a result, not to mention losing valuable metadata that can shed a light on important details essential to solving the case.
Another thing to check is that the footage hasn’t been tampered with by criminals trying to conceal evidence of their wrongdoing. Due to the increasing availability of deepfake and AI-powered technology, anti-forensic measures have been an increasing challenge in recent years.
3. Upgrade your tools
To preserve the quality of the footage and stay on top of anti-forensic measures, you need to upgrade your tools to ensure they meet the strictest industry standards. Consider using VIP 2.0 and SVR for Hikvision, both of which are cutting-edge software solutions created by SalvationDATA.
Among the rest of the functionality and benefits you’ll get, there is:
- Efficient retrieval of corrupted, fragmented, or deleted video files
- Built-in support for almost every DVR and NVR device out there
- Full compliance with the legal system
- Key element detection
- The ability to extract video footage without pausing the device
- Advanced filtering
- Free trial
- 24/7 support
4. Stick to the scientifically-validated processing
Although image and video forensics often calls for out-of-the-box thinking, there is only so much room for experimentation. In other words, to meet the proper digital forensics standards, the workflow must be:
- Repeatable
- Correct
- Reproducible
Those with the right forensic video analysis training are familiar with several industry guidelines that have been scientifically validated, including:
5. Get the proper education
Last but not least, aim to get the proper education to fast-track your way to a promotion and get recognized and validated by your peers. Along with granting you the ability to solve more cases with a greater deal of accuracy, this should give you all the motivation you need to reach the next stepping stone in your professional career.
To help you reach your professional goals, SalvationDATA offers many training and certification programs, including Expert(SFAC) DVR Forensics Analyst Certification.

With this forensic video analysis training, you will learn all there is to know about the best industry DVR Forensics practices and get access to advanced video forensics knowledge to handle any challenge that comes your way.
SalvationDATA provides training to law enforcement agencies from all around the world.