In today’s fast-paced and complex world, public safety agencies face mounting challenges to collect and deliver accurate evidence to the court in a timely manner. We need to keep the caseloads moving quickly, and yet ensuring the integrity of interview evidence—and then sharing it with the necessary parties ASAP—can be particularly difficult.
When they review their process, many agencies ultimately find that they still have gaps in their interview room camera system and digital evidence management solutions. But once you know the concerns, you can start to improve efficiency, and the interview evidence reliability for every case, every day.
3 Ways to Improve the Interview Evidence Recording Process
The public safety sector needs to follow a specific checklist when designing their interview recording room. With so much on the line for gathering criminal evidence, these requirements can be more stringent than a typical recording space. Here’s a quick summary of the categories that often need some extra attention:
1. The Space Needs Analysis
Conducting a space needs analysis before making any upgrades to an agency’s interview room is essential for several reasons. For starters, you need to confirm that you’re staying cost-effective while allocating resources. Agencies can prevent overspending by maximizing the use of their space in relation to the rest of their facility. Even though you may have been using one room for years, there might be a better option when you’re ready to redesign and modernize your interview room.
Working with an experienced team will also help you design a space that provides the appropriate lighting, furniture placement, and equipment installation to minimize obstructions with the interview room camera system recording angles. You don’t want to underutilize the space. Yet you also need it to be comfortable and to comply with local and federal regulations, including the accessibility requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
2. Camera Angles and Microphone Placement
It’s essential to Invest in top-tier audio and video equipment for your interview room camera system. But not only that, your department will need high-quality omnidirectional microphones installed in the room too.
The court needs the opportunity to review every aspect of the interview subject’s body language and speech patterns. High-resolution IP cameras provide the clarity needed to capture body language and any subtle cues that your interview subject might be displaying, ensuring that the evidence is as detailed and accurate as possible. By positioning your cameras correctly and placing the right types of microphones in the space, you’ll be able to record a clear image that doesn’t miss a thing.
3. DEMS Integration for Your Interview Room Camera System
Once public safety professionals capture their interview recordings they need a reliable system to safeguard that content. Interview evidence often forms the backbone of investigations, and implementing a solution with robust and integrated digital evidence management solution helps provide that peace of mind.
Having redundant security measures in place works to ensure that an interview recording will never be lost. What’s more, with a streamlined DEMS that’s cloud-based, authorized personnel will be able to review that caseload evidence instantly, from anywhere they’re working and even across jurisdictions when necessary.
Run Through the Entire Checklist—with iRecord
Over the years, we’ve worked with agencies of all sizes to improve their interview room camera system solutions, so whether your department serves a large metro or a small community, our team can run you through the entire upgrade process. We’ll partner with you from start to finish and help ensure you cover all of your bases!