{"id":4332,"date":"2021-09-29T19:34:33","date_gmt":"2021-09-29T19:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.digitalallyinc.com\/?p=4332"},"modified":"2022-01-12T21:03:02","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T21:03:02","slug":"10-considerations-for-storing-video-evidence-on-the-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digitalallyinc.com\/10-considerations-for-storing-video-evidence-on-the-cloud\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Considerations For Storing Video Evidence On the Cloud"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>\u0153Where am I going to all store that?\u009d is the first response a police chief or sheriff has as they explore a video solution, whether body cameras, in-car video systems, video surveillance systems, or interview recording. The question ultimately comes to one between the cloud and a local data center. We\u2122ll try to help clarify that decision.<\/em><br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u0153Where am I going to store all that?\u009d<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u0153Where am I going to all store that?\u009d is the first response a police chief or sheriff has as they explore a video solution, whether body cameras, in-car video systems, video surveillance systems, or interview recording. The question ultimately comes to one between the cloud and a local data center. We\u2122ll try to help clarify that decision.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Video evidence is now everywhere in Law Enforcement, and the challenge is how to store that evidence securely while offering easy access to those who need it. New laws passed in many states require prompt availability of video, retention for defined periods of time, and in most cases, particular methods of marking and categorizing video for future use.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Law Enforcement video storage requirements are expanding.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Video quality is improving, along with video size.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The costs of storing and managing video come at significant cost.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cybercriminals are becoming bolder and more effective every day.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why is do we care about where we store our video?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For years, law enforcement agencies had someone on-site who stored video, managed access, and made it available to those who needed it. Many of these videos were VHS tapes recorded by an in-car system or a system set up in a police facility. After time, there was often a room jammed full of these tapes, in some sort of order, that hopefully someone still understood. Eventually, as the cases passed through the system, those tapes were erased and re-used or destroyed. Anytime a video was requested, someone had to find the tape, make a copy, and get it to the requester. Each step of this required the time and effort of someone in the department.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the arrival of digital video recording in law enforcement, many departments assigned a PC or bought a server to accommodate the video collected. Like the crowded tape storage room, the drives in those devices eventually filled up, and the agency had to assign someone to remove unneeded videos or purchase more new equipment to house it. With more equipment, each piece requires more maintenance and IT resources. These systems allowed access to the video database, often through a LAN connection on-site with different permissions for different ranks or positions. Locally hosted solutions are also vulnerable to hackers and ransomware.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like the room full of tapes, sharing a video requires someone to find it, copy it, and share it, often on a DVD or USB drive, either of which no more secure than a VHS tape\u201danyone who picks it up can access it, view it, copy it, or distribute it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In either case, neither method provides an accessible or secure method for managing videos. Budgeting had to be made for physical space, equipment, and people to make it happen. Storing videos and making them easily accessible, which seemed an afterthought at the beginning, has become a large enterprise for most agencies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, many video solutions providers offer cloud storage solutions that allow for automatic uploading and cataloging of video. The cloud-based systems offer a scalable and secure environment that grows with the agency\u2122s needs and simplified methods of accessing, reviewing, and sharing video evidence. These systems are accessible through a web-browser and allow for access to video based upon agency policy and the position or rank of the user.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One constant concern is the long-term costs of storage, which can be large. When comparing to the long-term expenses of hardware, IT staff, software, and risk of loss, theft, or misuse, the relative costs come into line.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Evidence storage is now the subject of many regulations at the federal, state, and local levels. The local IT staff, who also deal with forgotten passwords, jammed printers, and various connectivity calamities, is hard pressed to keep up with the current standards and requirements.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cloud storage providers offer storage that\u2122s guarded by teams of cybersecurity professionals and stored in multiple, redundant locations that reduce the possibility of data loss or . While the information is accessible from anywhere, individual user access, with permissions customized to the mission and need of the user, eliminates contact with sensitive information incidentally or intentionally.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Digital Ally is an Amazon Web Services partner, and this offers our clients the security and peace-of-mind that comes from the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/aws.amazon.com\/government-education\/government\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amazon Web Services Government Cloud<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Access is via the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalallyinc.com\/law-enforcement\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">EVO Web Portal<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and well-controlled. Designed specifically for law enforcement and customization to the specific needs of your agency is simple.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalallyinc.com\/law-enforcement-products\/evo-web-portal\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ProVu Share Portal<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> allows for easy, safe access to relevant videos for other agencies, prosecutors, or relevant third parties. This is also customizable to your situation and eliminates the costs and risks associated with physical reproduction and handling of video evidence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ownership of your videos is never in question with Digital Ally. You own your videos, and should you change partners at a later date, download of the videos to your servers is easy.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Where do we go from here?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The decision between local and cloud-based storage should not be taken lightly, and should be around a few factors:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Security<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201dwould you be better served by a large, secure enterprise or locally managed servers?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Accessibility<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201ddo people routinely need access to videos from places other than their offices?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Sharing<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201dhow much does it cost to have someone burn DVDs and USB drives?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Safety<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201dis your current solution redundant and disaster-proof.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other articles to consider when choosing cloud storage:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessnewsdaily.com\/4982-cloud-vs-data-center.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cloud vs. Data Center: What to Consider<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cloudacademy.com\/blog\/10-benefits-of-using-cloud-storage\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">10 Benefits of Using Cloud Storage<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.comparethecloud.net\/articles\/6-pros-and-cons-of-cloud-storage-for-business\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6 Pros and Cons of Cloud Storage for Business<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.comparethecloud.net\/articles\/6-pros-and-cons-of-cloud-storage-for-business\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Pros and Cons of Cloud vs. In-House Servers<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.milesweb.com\/blog\/hosting\/cloud\/10-benefits-data-storage-cloud\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">10 Benefits of Data Storage In A Cloud<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.officer.com\/command-hq\/technology\/article\/21071719\/video-evidence-cloud-vsonsite-storage\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Video Evidence: Cloud Vs. On-Site Storage | Officer<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.officer.com\/command-hq\/technology\/article\/21071719\/video-evidence-cloud-vsonsite-storage\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Should you store your video evidence in the Cloud?<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.policemag.com\/534420\/evidence-storage-101\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Evidence Storage 101 &#8211; Investigations &#8211; POLICE Magazine<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u0153Where am I going to all store that?\u009d is the first response a police chief or sheriff has as they explore a video solution, whether body cameras, in-car video systems, video surveillance systems, or interview recording. The question ultimately comes to one between the cloud and a local data center. We\u2122ll try to help clarify [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v14.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"googlebot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"bingbot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalallyinc.com\/10-considerations-for-storing-video-evidence-on-the-cloud\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 Considerations For Storing Video Evidence On the Cloud - Digital Ally\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u0153Where am I going to all store that?\u009d is the first response a police chief or sheriff has as they explore a video solution, whether body cameras, in-car video systems, video surveillance systems, or interview recording. 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