The police want a copy of the hard drive from a Dahua NVR so they can investigate B&E across the street. What would be the best way to cooperate?:sad2:
The police want a copy of Dahua hard drive to investigate B&E
- Thread starter iphelpc
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fenderman
Staff member
- Mar 9, 2014
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Welcome to the forum. Are you sure they dont just want you to export the video? Tell them that you can export the video to dvd/usb drive..if you give them the entire drive they will have all your other video which you may not want them to have...if you dont mind giving them the drive you could could clone the drive but I highly doubt that they have the skill to pull video off the drive since its not recorded in any popular format...they would also have to pay you for the drive or provide one...
If you were not the victim, I would not give it up without a court order stating the specific time and date. Nothing more, nothing less.
fenderman
Staff member
- Mar 9, 2014
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I dont see the harm in helping out the cops...there is no reason to hassle them or the courts...just pull the times they need and hand it over...catching criminals benefits everyone.
So your going to tell your neighbor that you may have video of the suspects breaking into their house/business, but you don't feel like helping out - and the Police can get a warrant to seize your NVR?
Usually -the "best evidence" is the original, not an export. They may settle for less - but can you 'image' the drive and give them that?
vector18
Getting comfortable
- Mar 9, 2014
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Put yourselves on the other side. Your house/car was just broken into and your neighbor happens to have cameras. You call the police, and they knock on your neighbors door. They come back
and tell you they are refusing to provide video unless you have a court order. I don't think I would EVER be friendly to those neighbors again!
and tell you they are refusing to provide video unless you have a court order. I don't think I would EVER be friendly to those neighbors again!
Zxel
Getting the hang of it
I think the court order stuff is way over the top unless there is a compelling reason to do so, however, Chust has a valid point about your state and local laws. You could find yourself being arrested or sued for recording the audio (google it - it's already happened before) and even the video if it is a private area.
I would most be concerned about the audio part, the video itself is a far tougher stretch of the law. Recording the audio can put you in very hot water in some locations.
If you aren't recording audio then no problem - give them what they need. I do think wanting your NVR's hardrive is ridiculous (fendermans post points this out well), I've given the police many recordings that I was asked to provide and the last thing they wanted was a bunch of videos not related to the crime that they would have to sort thru. They were very glad (sat down right next to me as I did it) I could give them mp4 recordings for the times needed from each camera, all cut just a few minutes before and after what was actually needed (some leader time).
vector18
Getting comfortable
- Mar 9, 2014
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Just upload the video to a windows movie maker, mute the audio, save the video, burn it onto a DVD, and your done. They will only want originals if there was a major crime and a criminal case in court. More than likely, the cops just want to see the video just to help them out.
It would depend on the seriousness of the crime. I mentioned "best evidence" - it is actually a "rule", google it and see. In a murder or other serious case, they are going to want the hard drive... What happened before and after the incident could also be relevant, for example did the incident really start when the police said it did or is there more to it?
I would just work with one of them at your house to find the exact footage that they need then export what they want and give them the dahua playback software as well (since the exported files are in a weird format), nothing more nothing less.
Zxel
Getting the hang of it
That is an excellent point, I never considered it would be a murder investigation, the description certainly doesn't sound like it. I think if you recoded it like described in vector18's post it could certainly be an issue in court (a lawyer would most certainly want the original), however for anything less than murder or some other type of serious crime (like a terrorist investigation...) an exported version from the NVR would pass the "best evidence" rule. I say that because I record in BI's native .bvr format and the police have had no problems in court using the .mp4 recordings as copies of the originals. I do of course always save the .bvr formated version just in case there is an issue, which there never has been.
The easiest way is to just sit down with an officer and pull the clips they want with them right there (after you verify your recording laws). milkisbad explains exactly this well.
For sure don't expect the police to compensate you in any way for what you give them (I also wouldn't expect it back - even though you can it's a long wait and pain in the arse paperwork...), I always just end up giving them what they want on a USB drive that I provide (they're cheap), rather than burning it to a CD/DVD/BlueRay disk (which is what they always ask for it on). If they are doing an investigation on a serious matter they will have a budget they can compensate you from (same thing they do for informants) - but you will have to push for it hard, police are VERY tight with thier dollars. Each local is different so it may be a different experience for you, soon you will know.
Zxel
Getting the hang of it
A video exported out of the NVR would be considered original by the court, only a serious crime like murder would require something like the entire hard drive and even then the exported videos would still pass court muster I bet as long as an officer was there to witness the extraction. If a defense attorney wants to pay you for the NVR's hard drive in defending their client fine - let them pay for it.
Chust
Getting the hang of it
- Nov 10, 2014
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Zxel
Getting the hang of it
I have no idea if legally this is so but it probably is. I don't even know what "original" means. If I have a process that is automatically shuttling all video files every 24 hours from one drive to another are those copied files no longer originals? I think the proper term would be digitally unchanged, and a file copied over and over need not be changed in any way.
Case in point if I film a murder on my phone and upload it to youtube and then I take a hammer to my phone obviously that video which exists only now on youtube is still of legal value.
Absolutely do not give video with audio. In basically all cases you shouldn't be recording audio outside of your house anyway, just to be sure you're legally compliant. I would give video from any of my cams to cops because I've already satisfied that setting up exterior cams to film my property are legally compliant even if they do happen to inadvertently capture off-property material. My neighbors' yards, for example, are captured on my cams, as is the street. Of course if my cams were focused directly on a neighbor's window that is a no-no.