Local police learn most crime scene videos cant be used in court

Signage advertising video surveillance for convenience stores and other storefronts are intimidating, but how useful are the systems really?

Facing the issue of surveillance image quality head on, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office hosted a instructional class for law enforcement officers this past week. The class was held through Virginia-based company Resolution Video last week in Clackamas.

Adam Phillips, public information officer for the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, said that with current training, a large amount of video retrieved from crime scenes is worthless. Training from Resolution Video instructors and owners, Jake Keck and Dorothy Stout, had the potential to make videos collected strong enough to be used in court.

“We have all the stuff, now it’s what do we do with it. Video can’t go into court without training,” said Phillips.

Stout, who began her career working as a forensic video analyst for the U.S. Postal Service, is widely regarded as the industry standard in video analysis. Joyce Nagy, a forensic artist with the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, said she was eager to organize a class in Clackamas because of her previous interaction with Stout.

“She’s an easy to promote person. You say Dorothy Stout and it’s an industry standard, it’s easy to fill a class,” Nagy said.

Nagy added that one of the most motivating reasons to bring Stout and Keck to Clackamas was to create a base level of knowledge and skill in video analysis across jurisdictions.

“Together we can make a difference and network and have folks rely on this in case (officers) come across something that you don’t know how to do,” Nagy said. “Together we can make a difference in establishing protocol in how we do business.”

West Linn Evidence Technician Rita Swanson was also eager to take advantage of Keck and Stout’s combined knowledge, as well as the 700 pounds of video equipment they brought with them from Virginia.

Swanson joined other law enforcement officers from the United States and Canada alike, which Keck explained was a normal occurrence.

“Eighty to ninety percent of our classes are local, and then 10-ish percent from Canada,” Keck said.

For Swanson, the class fell into her lap on her desk at just the right time.

“It came across my desk and I requested to take it because I know video evidence is becoming more and more utilized by businesses and homeowners,” she said.

The three-day class was nothing short of challenging, but Swanson said she enjoyed the experience even with its ups and downs.

“I’ve learned a lot and expanded my horizons, that’s for darn sure. It’s chaotic because there’s so many different kinds of systems and it’s not quite the same as computer forensics,” Swanson said.

For West Linn in particular, Swanson saw that the class presented an opportunity to better help citizens.

“West Linn doesn’t have a lot of businesses, but a lot of homeowners are starting to pick up on (surveillance) more in their homes. With the video technology that’s out there, we can recover the information to get back out there and hopefully catch those bad guys,” she said.

For Swanson, the best part of the class was not only the skills she gained but the connections she made with the officers from Canada, Washington and even the Minneapolis Police Department.

“It doesn’t matter what country you’re in, we all seem to do it the same way,” Swanson said.