Friday, February 23, 2018

How Big is That Buffer?

Cameras are everywhere. Not just in phones, but in businesses, on streetlamps, covering intersections. There aren't many part of the city that don't have at least a few cameras looking around. But someone called some things to our attention regarding in-car and body cameras.

The in-car camera have a "buffer" built in that supposedly overwrites the previous minute before activation of emergency equipment. Same thing with the body cameras. Our e-mail asked if that is so, why is it that whenever there's a police shooting, IAD comes out and doesn't download car cameras - they take entire hard drives? The e-mailer claims that the camera doesn't actually overwrite for days, even weeks, if the camera is turned on. Why would you need an entire hard drive for what is essentially minutes of tape?

That brought to mind a comment that appeared recently regarding the 006 District alleged sex assault. The camera was supposedly activated somehow, but if that happens, it beeps regularly, letting you know it's active. The comment said that the camera wasn't actually "active" but filmed the Officer deleting pictures off of his personal phone that he was holding up in front of his body camera, leading to the charges.

We're these in the "buffer" zone? Is the body camera filming during all activate moments, and the beeping is only when audio is being recorded? So all things going on inside the squad car are recorded regardless of activation?

Any tech-savvy people want to chime in? Anyone have the camera technical specs lying around?

Labels:

103 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

trust no one

2/23/2018 12:10:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

They used to say, first we get rid of the lawyers.... replace that with cameras.

2/23/2018 12:14:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A police related shooting video released to DNA Info showed almost 15 minutes of video from my car that was recorded while the in-car camera was off. Thankfully it's just me singing and swearing. One worse than the other. If I was 10-4 that night, it would have definitely been a problem as I had a lot to say...

2/23/2018 12:14:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That is correct... any information that has been buffered-- is stored. So--- if it's is commencing... it's is transferred into machine code-- 0s and 1s... those move to the main memory... main memory is transferred to secondary storage-- the hard drive. It if happened, it can be recovered by examining the hard drive. And depending on the type of hard drive, regular or SSD, you would have to over write the data multiple times before it is fully erased. Good luck boys😀 You will prolly have to over write a hard drive back to back for several days before the information is definitely erased. If you break the camera, it can be examine and extracted, then recovered. In other words, don't be that guy.

2/23/2018 12:17:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

We have no right to privacy as cops, but if they are lying about the buffering? Then everyone who has worn a camera is damaged. Sign me up for the class action suit!

2/23/2018 12:21:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes, yes and yes! It's all for your own good ;)

2/23/2018 12:22:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

7
Recording with the Axon Body Camera 3
Operating Modes
The Axon Body camera has two operating modes:
1 BUFFERING
2 EVENT
BUFFERING Mode
1 Move the ON/OFF switch on the camera to the ON position.
With the camera turned on, the Axon system is in the BUFFERING mode. When BUFFERING begins:
• The Operation LED on the camera will blink green.
• The camera will be capturing video but no audio, and will not record to permanent memory while in BUFFERING
mode.
• Buffered video duration is up to 30 seconds (00:00:30).
When you activate the EVENT mode, the buffered video (not audio) captured directly before the event, up to 30
seconds, will be saved and attached to the event in permanent memory. This feature is intended to capture the
video of an incident just before your activation of EVENT mode.
Because the system does not capture audio in BUFFERING mode, the first 30 seconds of a recorded event
will be video-only. Buffering mode starts only after the Axon Body camera is turned on. The system does not
record when the camera is turned off.
NOTE: An agency can turn off the BUFFERING mode. If your agency has deactivated the BUFFERING mode,
your Axon system will operate the same way as described in this manual, but the camera will not record
anything until you double-press the EVENT button.

2/23/2018 12:25:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I got called to have my hard drive taken out because My gps put me in the vicinity of a high profile killing and they thought maybe it may have caught the offender leaving the scene or a car or anything. I told them I never turned the lights on, they pulled it anyway. That made me think that perhaps this camera is always rolling and if it’s high profile enough they can access everything.

2/23/2018 12:26:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was told that the BWCs over-write every 8 hours, and the in-car cameras over-write every 72 hours.

2/23/2018 12:38:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I believe they have a "covert mode" that can be activated by authorized persons. It can then record everything with the appearance that it is off. Sucks but that is tech.

2/23/2018 12:40:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why is anyone surprised? My home surveillance cameras store 3 months of stuff and delete the oldest video.


A thumb drive can store 1-2TB, how big is the body cameras?

*comfortable guess*
There is enough storage in the body cameras to give IAD/COPA enough time to read a CR and secure the video-- how else would you sell it to politicians?

2/23/2018 12:41:00 AM  
Anonymous P.O. Randy Stevens, 018th District said...

Dear SCC:
When the in-car cameras were introduced, we were told the falsehood that it is only recording when we activate it, plus the 30 second "buffering." NOT TRUE. Once you turn on the vehicle ignition, the in-car camera is recording your entire tour of duty, REGARDLESS of whether you even bother to log-in. When you activate the in-car camera, and then later de-activate, that only "flags" those specific times on the hard drive, for quick recovery and viewing. But your WHOLE TOUR is being recorded (with the exception that the audio is not being recorded when you and your microphone are out of range/far away from your squad car).
I can only assume the same is for the BWC. Your BWC is probably recording your entire tour, as long as it is turned on, and in "buffering mode." If you do not want your BWC to record every minute you are on duty, use your discretion. You could either turn it off when you need to, or lock it in a gun box, or whatever.
Because the City failed to bring FOP to the table when deciding the punishment matrix for BWC use, the Department cannot (for the time being) punish any officer for failing to turn on, or keep their BWC in buffering mode. However, IF an officer happens to record his/her own misconduct with the BWC, that misconduct event is subject to Department discipline.

2/23/2018 12:51:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If you think it’s not recording—- ask the guy in 006 what he thinks. My bets is 100 it is recording and can be recovered

2/23/2018 01:04:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Both cameras are recording ALL the time. When they are so called activated that section of the recording is marked. That's why when you pull up to the station and the cameras are supposed to automatically begin downloading it seems to take forever. These so called "soft recordings" don't have audio but your actions are all being recorded. When you activate your body camera or your in car camera shows active when you turn on the blue lights the "hard recording" will have audio, or is supposed to. If the camera has not automatically downloaded for whatever reason it will begin to record over previous recordings but the amount of "buffer" can vary depending on the date of the model.

2/23/2018 01:19:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If you paid attention in training, they never said the in car camera overwites itself every minute. You can easily look at footage from anytime during your tour yourself, it's in the pre even playback option in the menu. So if you turn on the lights , yes it will save and archive 1 minute before. But all tour is on the hard drive. This was explained in the training, bit of course no one paid attention

2/23/2018 01:31:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Per Axon, any deleted video can be recovered from the device within 7 days. One would assume that deleted video would include pre-buffer events.

2/23/2018 01:35:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just get Rahm trained in conceal and carry and get him one of those senior citizen's Jitterbug phones with the emergency button that will get you help anywhere. Just think of the millions of dollars it would save the taxpayers in getting rid of the palace guard. And it would help Rahm to learn to do things on his own, to become a man and not to be dependent on others.

2/23/2018 01:48:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The camera can be put in incognito mode, which turned on the blinking light on top and never beeps.

2/23/2018 01:54:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Think of the body worn camera like your cellphone and how much data you can actually store on it. I Am not an expert but I am always telling people, these things are always rolling.

2/23/2018 02:11:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It’s works exactly like this. I know because I have had my hard drive yanked from my car for 2 shootings and have seen it yanked for 2 other very high profile instances.

The in car system holds 24 hrs ( some say 48, so unsure ). of video on its hard drive . The camera is always “buffering “ /recording. Your entire tour is captured on that in car camera whether you ever activate the lights or not . This happens to every officer every tour. 24hrs of data is available and burned to the hardrive in the trunk. Audio is not available until you activate your camera. . When you active the emergency equipment it simply begins the bookmarking process . It now goes back 60 seconds and Begins the bookmark. That now enables YOU to physically access that recorded section. Again no audio available for the 60 seconds it backtracked . Audio only begins at the point of activation. However if some crazy shit goes down , iAd can come with a tech guy, yank the hard drive and that 24hrs of “stored loop” is now at their fingertips whether it was ever bookmarked or not. The issue is this now renders the camera out of commission , and a hard drive is expensive to replace. So it’s not something they do easily.

The same concept applies to the body cams. When you start your tour and flip the power switch the camer starts recording everything the entire time . I haven’t got a definite answer in the amount of data the BWC will hold , but it’s been rumored 12-24 hrs. Again when you activate you BWC on a call , it begins the “bookmark process “. It now bookmarks 30seconds prior and accesses that video . Audio is just like the in car system, will not start til you activitate it by pressing the button. Again if some crazy shit goes down they can take your BWC to a tech guy. Access he hard drive and get that entire 12hrs of non bookmarked video should they need to , but again it kills the camera and they will need to purchase a new one to replace it.

So in essence you’re being recorded your entire tour on both systems .

2/23/2018 02:26:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Those things record constantly as in always A suburban dept already sued but the story disappeared.

2/23/2018 02:56:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I’ve heard rumors for awhile about most things occurring inside a squad car being recorded whether the cameras are “on” or not.

2/23/2018 03:03:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The whole hard drives are taken because of chain of custody and because you can actually recover deleted files when necessary. In magnetic drives, physical memeory needs to overwritten 7 times to ensure the content cannot be restored.

Always assume your electronics are recording your audio, video, location, and telemetry. 😕

2/23/2018 03:41:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I remember in the academy they mentioned that some of the in-car cameras actually have two hard drives. One is the normal one you interact with on a regular shift, choosing when to start and stop recording and syncing with the recording services. There is a second hard drive that is always recording video in case of an accident or incident where the officers are unable to activate the system. I believe they drive needs to be physically removed from the trunk in order to pull the data.

For the body cameras, some device manufacturers were advertising the ability for management to record continuously throughout the shift (without the officer's knowledge) as a feature. The lowly copper thinks the unit is off when they are on a personal phone call, using the restroom, or changing in the locker room. The unit shows that it is not recording, but was still recording with administration being able to dump all the footage. This led to a number of lawsuits at some departments. When the second generation of BWC hit the streets, I met some officers from another department outside the state that advised their cameras were WiFi enabled, and if a supervisor was in range they could start live streaming their camera feed onto their phone. Something to keep in mind...

As with any device with audio recording functionality (department cell phone, laptop, and cameras) always assume they may be on. There is a reason why the head of a US intelligence agency admitted they cover up their cameras with tape. You never know who's watching or listening in.

2/23/2018 03:44:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

SCC, you are right to raise this very real possibility and I don't doubt for a minute that the city can get all the video. However, in the case of the 6th district, wouldn't the alleged act also be on camera?

2/23/2018 04:11:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Does that mean when I'm in the crapper, it's filming?
If so, when is the FOP lawsuit?
Or can I sue?
Didn't a northwestern suburb sue for their cameras running constantly?
HELP!!!!

2/23/2018 04:17:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why would you need an entire hard drive for what is essentially minutes of tape?

Well the thing is, out are not dealing with technology that is like a "tape" or VHS cassette. With that technology, once you write over it, it's lost. In the instance of a hard drive, any thing put written on a hard drive is converted to a 1 or a 0.... and can be recovered. So do not believe the person who is telling you one minute is stored. If a hard drive is 500 GB... theoretically you would have to over write the data 7 To essentially to remove it. Forensic specialists with the FBI can recover bits of data that have been written over and over again. The city is cheap, they don't buy Solid state drives, they have the old one which are bigger and it's rare if one breaks. The solid state drives, I heard do not break if your Machine goes through a power surge. So the odds of the drive breaking is rare too

2/23/2018 04:25:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Little whiny brother rahm is always listening...

2/23/2018 04:39:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Does anyone remember a little while back when either Rahm or the lap dog supervisor told one of the officers working security athis house, nor to wear a body camera ? The camera records all of the time !

2/23/2018 05:19:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The in car camera is continuously recording video when on, but no audio until the lights are manually activated. The video created by manual activation will include the previous minute of video but no audio until activation.  During a major incident ALL video (no audio) can be reviewed for as long as the camera was on.  Im not sure how long this video is stored before being overwritten but I have seen nearly full tours of duty reviewed on the camera.  Basically if the in car camera is powered on its continuously recording video regardless if it's in buffering mode or activated, but that video only includes audio when activated by the officer.

As BWC video goes, it works basically the same way as far as saving the previous minute of video only until activation.     I personally have never seen anyone retrieve more then the videos created during manual activation, all of which include approximately 1 minute of audioless video prior to activation.  Because the bwc is not always on the public way (bathrooms, hospitals, etc), continuously recording retrievable video would create a legal privacy issue.   Because of this I highly doubt it saves more then the buffer but who knows.  I've never seen anyone retreive more then that and I've had multiple bwc incidents involving states attorneys, detectives, lawyers, and lawsuits. 

1st Watch Sgt

2/23/2018 05:33:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This article touches on the same subject and will be highly interesting to anyone in local law enforcement.

Broward County Sheriff’s Office Did Not “Miss Warning Signs” or Make “Mistakes”

"Building in a 30 minute delay on the CCTV system was one of those pesky add-on items that happened a few years ago when the School and Law Enforcement officials established the policy of intentionally not arresting students."

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/02/23/broward-county-sheriffs-office-did-not-miss-warning-signs-or-make-mistakes/#more-146176

2/23/2018 05:51:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Now it makes perfect sense as to why little Rahm didn’t want them to have cameras at his house. Where is the transparency??

2/23/2018 06:06:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow I've read some crazy stuff on how people think the systems work, how to erase hard drives, and that hard drives are expensive. Wow, just wow. Ignorance IS bliss.

2/23/2018 06:09:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"""" Anonymous Anonymous said...

That is correct... any information that has been buffered-- is stored. So--- if it's is commencing... it's is transferred into machine code-- 0s and 1s... those move to the main memory... main memory is transferred to secondary storage-- the hard drive. It if happened, it can be recovered by examining the hard drive. And depending on the type of hard drive, regular or SSD, you would have to over write the data multiple times before it is fully erased. Good luck boys😀 You will prolly have to over write a hard drive back to back for several days before the information is definitely erased. If you break the camera, it can be examine and extracted, then recovered. In other words, don't be that guy.

2/23/2018 12:17:00 AM""""""

Yes, thank you. You beat me to it. I'm sure its not an SSD cause the Dept. is to cheap but its probably a big ole HDD and you'll have to write over that HDD "good luck" "Maybe if your heavy enough they will let you record for a few days before IAD comes out", or it has to be wiped by a special program "like Hillary Clinton and her Top secret E-mails", or the drive has to be physically destroyed. Now I dont think audio is recorded full time in the buffer because the files would be to large so you can still talk about who your sleeping with. I'm not sure I'd even trust that.

But yes. Thats why the FBI takes entire hard drives/computers instead of just downloading information. Thats why we do. I used to do DV and at the dawn of Digital Video its why I would tell young coppers to do their 8 hours like they have a camera on their head. Because eventually they will have one there.

Its just a job kiddies. Do it and go home cause you ain't going to beat that camera and they got you by the balls, "or whatever appendage you sport". I wish you could have been there in the '70s and '80s when the gang bangers truly feared us and after the party was on. But they dont and it ain't. So remember that the next time some Boss rallys the troops to go kick some ass.

Do what you can legally do. Find a nice Gal or Guy and start a family, and go home to them after work. Safe and sound.

2/23/2018 06:14:00 AM  
Anonymous Not A Cop said...

I've watched this situation grow and grow over the years. Every President since Reagan has suffered from "open Mike incidents" (My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.)He had a great sense of humor, most of his detractors not so much.
Here are the new rules of the road:
1. Everything you do and say will be recorded somewhere by someone - Mostly legal.
2. If they tell you there is no surveillance equipment they are lying.
3. If they tell you the cameras are turned off, they are lying.
4. Every bit of this data can be recovered if there is a sufficient reason.

Then consider the Rahm and Preckwinkle administrations and how they do business.

Let's be careful out there, today even more than ever.

2/23/2018 06:16:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-round-lake-park-police-camera-suit-met-20160624-story.html

Not tech savy here, but these officers thought the camera was OFO, too, but it wasn't. They sued...

2/23/2018 06:22:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Think about your camera being live the next time you have to take a dump, or send a text, or login to facebook or whatever, or paying with your credit card

2/23/2018 06:27:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

over write the data 7 To essentially to remove it. Huh?

2/23/2018 06:29:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So? Don’t be a fuck up and you don’t need to worry about it.

2/23/2018 06:36:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ERI rooms and in car camera buffer for HOURS. And can be retrieved. BWC do not buffer for long periods of time and cannot be retrieved .

2/23/2018 06:47:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The camera is always recording....these new cameras are VERY capable....new in car cameras can do it, im sure body can too

2/23/2018 06:54:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am an amoeba.

Under the microscope.

I am an amoeba.

2/23/2018 07:00:00 AM  
Blogger Mr. SouthSide said...

I sing a mean version of Pretty Woman constantly. Enjoy bitches.

2/23/2018 07:19:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

With in car camera. Look at the McDonald shooting. You can see in the windshield that people didn't have their cameras 'active' but were still able to recover the video.

Yes, you have no expectation of privacy when you are in a department vehicle.

If, your BWC records and stores everything,the FOP needs to file a class action against the city. We have never been told to shut off our cameras. There would be plenty of video of coppers dropping a deuce and think of all the female officers it'd caught using the bathroom.

2/23/2018 07:23:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

 Anonymous said...

SCC, you are right to raise this very real possibility and I don't doubt for a minute that the city can get all the video. However, in the case of the 6th district, wouldn't the alleged act also be on camera?

2/23/2018 04:11:00 AM

Someone has a great point. It caught him deleting photos but not sucking on some toes? That just doesn't make any sense. There's obviously more to this story. Who has the REAL info?

2/23/2018 07:25:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's recording all of the time. The on/off switch and incident start/stop button just provide index points in the recording sequence. The entire camera system is a trap for officers.

I have read ALL of the white papers, technical critiques, programming guides, coding manuals, newspaper articles, purchase orders, SIGINT, NATO guidelines, and CR's.

In the new America that will be great again, there will be no cameras.
1776 all the way / everyday.

America

2/23/2018 07:27:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Listen up! The cameras are ALWAYS recording!

2/23/2018 07:44:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The in car camera records everything from the time you log on. No sound though.

2/23/2018 07:45:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't have specs but cameras are always recording it only beeps when audio is recording. I'm a detective and requested footage from a vehicle. When I received the video I realized they pulled the wrong video and received video of a car parked for hours looking at a wall.

Even ERI rooms are always recording

2/23/2018 08:20:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Off topic, but remember it is stupid shit that usually gets people popped. Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time - like when your accidentally keying your mic - can bring down the shit storm. No body or dash cam required. It’s out there - being recorded on CPD and private assets. 😕

2/23/2018 08:25:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

We are putting cameras everywhere but where they need to be!!!! These POS elected officials should not be able to take a breath without camera's focused on them to prohibit the kind of graft and corruption that has most large cities in economic chaos not to mention the federal government that is running in the "trillions" deficit!

2/23/2018 08:27:00 AM  
Blogger fillmoreranger said...

I made this known to the officers that worked for me from the start, although they didn't let it be known in the class. The camera system actually has 2 hard drives one large capacity is in the big system in the trunk, one in the overhead unit. The large capacity is constantly recording.The company making the system tightly controls the information regarding it but from what we gleaned it would take 17 days of 24/7 recording before something is completely erased to military standards off the large drive. When you activate your camera the recording you select is copied to the smaller overhead drive which then downloads to the system when you return to station.If your supervisors did not let you know this shame on them as they were all taught this in the supervisor module of the class. This is how a supervisor can physically go in your car and create a download of an incident that you did not record as long as you have not signed out of the system. He/she/it (to be politically correct) could if they wanted to waste the time watch were you were through your entire shift, although the review rewind is very slow it would take forever. note that this is only video and audio is not recorded until you turn it on.

2/23/2018 08:28:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have been told by some tech people that work on those cameras and others "in the know" that those cameras are ALWAYS recording. That is why they pull the hard drives. I have personally seen them pull recordings from those cameras when the cameras was "not recording"

2/23/2018 08:31:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dont do stupid shit and you don't have to worry about getting caught.

2/23/2018 08:51:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Axom Body cam when turned to the on posiotn, buffers and records for 30 seconds. It records video only and no sound.

2/23/2018 08:58:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
SCC, you are right to raise this very real possibility and I don't doubt for a minute that the city can get all the video. However, in the case of the 6th district, wouldn't the alleged act also be on camera?

2/23/2018 04:11:00 AM

You aren't a copper if you don't know where the act occurred, troll.

2/23/2018 09:09:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"We have a lot of buffers in the family."

2/23/2018 09:24:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can tell you that the ERI systems that were installed in the detective areas in 2015 record ALL the time. There were 2 occasions where I was unable to recover video footage from witness interviews. When the tech guys recovered it, they had added footage prior to the cameras being turned on. This clearly violates the IL eavesdropping statutes because it is recording interviews of witnesses prior to them giving consent to have their statement memorialized. So do not step into an interview room to have a private conversation...you are being recorded.

2/23/2018 09:47:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cameras are always recording, you should know this by now. Maybe SCC should post a reminder like the Admin messages and be posted every 30 days.

2/23/2018 09:56:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It’s always recording and storing that data in the hard drive. It over writes the oldest video that isn’t archived/saved when you activated lights and created an event. Essentially a whole tour can be saved in the hardrive But will be written over as needed. All that video can be recovered. Audio isn’t captured by the in car until you activate lights to save space. If you look at the videos of shootings in car and body cams you will see that many of the videos initial recording surpass the buffering 60 seconds mode. You will also see if that see if you are ever in a a lawsuit that as much recording as possible will Be recovered from deleted instances where the camera was not activated.

2/23/2018 10:11:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

When you delete a file on a computer you only delete the index. The data is still out there until it is written over. (and even that is no guarantee it is unrecoverable)

2/23/2018 10:27:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If the bwc are always recording like people are claiming then where’s the video of the paul oneill shooting from 004? I call b.s. on most of what’s being posted on this thread. Just don’t do any dumb shit and you won’t have to worry about video footage.

2/23/2018 11:03:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can tell you with certainty that the in car camera records and shows the previously minute before you activate the emergency lights. During a court case you could see movement they the windshield for a minute, then you can see the lights go on along with the sounds. Prior to that there was no audio during that minute

2/23/2018 11:22:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

a few months ago a P.O. planted a drug in a pile of wood, then went back to take the suspect with him and look for the drugs and turned on the camera. When they used the tape to show where the drugs were found, the tape showed the P.O. planting the drugs during the prior minute. He actually filmed himself doing that

2/23/2018 11:27:00 AM  
Blogger I Fart In Your General Direction said...

Don't be tongue-punching the fart box of your prisoner during a hospital guard detail and you won't have anything to worry about.

[I was gonna say 'keep your nose clean', but describing this simple concept as worded above is kinda saying the same thing, only more fun]

Ditto any other type of shady, scandalous, scurrilous or off-putting goings on.

2/23/2018 11:31:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

if the bwc footage is being recorded at all times regardless of buffer mode, where is the footage of the shooting of paul o'neal? i remember people making a stink about it because the bwc was not turned on

2/23/2018 11:41:00 AM  
Anonymous ---B--- said...

It depends on the capacity of the storage device and the resolution. However even a modest 32GB SD card at a highish resolution will give a couple hours of video storage for a single camera.

If it's something like a 2TB hard drive a single camera could be months of data even at high resolution.

The length of time recorded before overwrite is a function of resolution, number of cameras, and storage space. With those three variables the time can be calculated. Also if it is continuous recording or motion recording. If it records only on motion or some other alert the calendar time available increases dramatically.

2/23/2018 12:02:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"buffering" is only the temporary writing of data. If temp writing is done in the RAM, when power is removed, the unit shuts down. When re-energized, the 'addresses' in RAM where the previous "buffered data" was stored will be shown to be available, thus new "buffered information" written into those addresses.
RAM information can be taken out of this temporary/flash memory and written onto the hard drive as, computer memory is computer memory. The only difference is the notation on how it is stored--kept until ordered deletion/overwritten, or in the case of RAM, automatically during power down events.

One way to address the huge need of RAM needed--in the case of cumbersome programs or videos--is to have a temporary area of the hard drive that is deemed as "RAM". These are where things like "temp files" are kept. RAM is just temp files, think of it that way.
When deleting a file--a bunch of linked memory spaces--the only thing that happens is the file allocation table, the 'address book' of the computer just is toggled to note that these address boxes are now available to have other information written in them.
The data are still there in those memory boxes. The only difference is the computer's post office just says they are now empty mailboxes. But they aren't until new mail is stuffed into them.

So computer software can be written to allow any event to be stored--and kept or made available to be overwritten--in any manner. Who wrote the program knows how it works and will let others know the options they have with it. The users/targets of the software may or may not know these things. The only way to know is by having the company/writer be honest about its options available. Or the higher ups that use it that may have access to those options and not tell others about those.

Portable devices, such as my cell phone for example, can have it to where the video I am making with it is also recorded to the hard drive of my computer. That is all a "cloud" is--someone elses computer. It would not surprise me if the bigger computer in a vehicle is the hard storage device for a body camera...in addition to the camera's storage device. This 'synergy' can be a way to overcome the data storage 'limitations' of a mobile device, which by nature, are smaller and less powerful.

I tape over the camera lens of my computer as I don't use it.

Dana Loesch kicked butt at cpac 2018, available for viewing on youtube.

2/23/2018 12:04:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's irritating to think our Law Enforcement Officers are under such a high level of scrutiny when it's the attorneys and courts that love to set criminals loose upon the public.

But it's typical with democrats. Point your finger at someone else and accuse them of what you're doing. Russia, Russia, Russia! Assholes!

J.J.

2/23/2018 12:04:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If you dont thing that shit is on all the time you should be pushing a FedEx truck no a squad car.

2/23/2018 12:33:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The "buffer" goes back seven 24 hour days (video only). Audio can be activated remotely and covertly by the department. Putting the camera power switch in the off position doesn't stop video or audio if covert mode is active.

2/23/2018 12:35:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lawsuit if true.

2/23/2018 02:14:00 PM  
Blogger 30 pending and what said...

All video is stored in the cloud regardless of weekday it is. That means that all video is accessible

2/23/2018 03:55:00 PM  
Blogger 30 pending and what said...

Had some Democrat talk to the Clinton people oh how they were able to wash out all video and email

2/23/2018 03:56:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've noticed that my BWC will get warm to the touch sometimes while in buffer mode (blinking green light). If it's not recording, it shouldn't be generating heat.

2/23/2018 04:03:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

over write the data 7 To essentially to remove it. Huh?

2/23/2018 06:29:00 AM


okay.

i'll be the one.


HDD = Hard Disk Drive

To save myself from head butting the wall, I direct you to, oh fuck, Wikipedia will do; Hard Disk Drive page. Read it.

Thus, 7 times writing to drive, the ENTIRE drive, as in until it won't let you copy/paste another file onto it, no matter how small that file size may be.

Thus:

1. write to completely fill drive. video files of several gigabits each might speed things along a bit.

2. Format drive. yes, it will want to know if you are sure you want to lose all the data by formatting. Why, yes, yes you do.

3. repeat steps 1 & 2, and continue to do so until you've counted all the fingers and the thumb on your LEFT hand, plus your thumb and pinky finger on your RIGHT hand, counting each single finger, or thumb, each time you finish doing steps 1 & 2.

thus, a total of 7 write and format wipes, which should approach sufficient altering of HDD surfaces to be adequate.

if you deem anything more is required, ball peen hammer time is quite satisfying........

2/23/2018 04:52:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

am an amoeba.

Under the microscope.

I am an amoeba.





I’m more of a paramecium.

2/23/2018 05:56:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

and THAT is why it sits in the car in the OFF position

2/23/2018 07:17:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dana Loesch kicked butt at cpac 2018, available for viewing on youtube.

2/23/2018 12:04:00 PM

And she was treated like shit by the Communist News Network, the blowhard sheriff, and the out of control left wing audience. So was Rubio.

2/23/2018 07:24:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can you say “ buffer” and 006 district in the same sentence?🤔

2/23/2018 09:01:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

if you deem anything more is required, ball peen hammer time is quite satisfying........

2/23/2018 04:52:00 PM


If She devil Hillary can get away with it, why can't we? There is no rule of law anymore.

2/23/2018 10:15:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

No Communion for Dick Durbin? As an adopted "Bastard" from St. Vincents/ Orphanage/Catholic Charities. I hope the Dick Durbin Pro Abortion family rots in a fiery place. But that's just me and my famil.y

2/23/2018 10:27:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The in car camera is always recording. And the dept can grab the last full 48hrs of footage off the hard drive. Whether lights were activated or not.

2/23/2018 10:40:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the camera is always recording otherwise, how could it record the previous 60 seconds before you activate your lights It doesn’t magically know when you gonna turn on your lights

2/23/2018 11:57:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I’m surprised, if true, that they don’t also buffer the audio. Audio files are MUCH smaller than video files and would only take up a small fraction of the space. I mean an hour of video at 720p is only a little over 2 gigabytes and and an hour of audio is only like 15 megabytes. The audio is tiny in comparison - almost 150 times smaller. A single one terabyte drive ( less than $100 at a big box store) would hold nearly 500 hours of video and audio, that’s about 20 days worth of both. True, there would be other stuff on the drive like bookmark files and the like; but, even being very generous and assuming hose are large, that’s still 10 days. Technically, there would be no limitation to doing it, so, even if it is not being done now, look for it being either an “unadvertised feature” or coming in a next release.

2/24/2018 12:00:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A quick search on “ how much can a 1Tb drive hold” has a first result from pc inja shows approximately how much video and Audio a drive can hold...and it’s a lot of storage for under a $100.

2/24/2018 01:01:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

When collecting digital evidence - you don't just take a copy of the file, you take the whole hard drive, date/time, etc. and put it in an evidence bag. That bag gets signed off on by everyone touching it until it makes it to the Forensic Examiner.

The FE then removes it from the bag, puts it into a special device that runs all the data in the drive through a cryptographic algorithm called a "Hash" which churns out a unique sequence of letters and numbers. If any BIT of information on the hard drive changes, then the sequence won't match.

After that hash is computed, the drive is bit-for-bit duplicated. The hash algorithm is run on the copy. If it matches, the original gets bagged up again and put in evidence storage. The copy is then copied, and a hash computed. If that hash also matches, then you have one copy for the prosecution, one for the defense, and the original in case anything's called into question.

The experts then work with those copies to review the evidence, and create their opinion reports to the Court.

Copying the file off the hard drive? Not good. It calls into question a number of things:

* What was it copied to? Was that erased completely? How? Even if new - it should be erased in a forensically valid manner to rule out anything. If it wasn't erased before copying to, it's possible that what they found wasn't actually what was copied from the hard drive...

* How do we know what was copied is what is actually being brought into evidence? Was this something created or is it the actual evidence?

* How do we know nothing was changed that's being claimed? This is known as "spoilation" of evidence. i.e. - did you take out some part that makes your client look good, or some part that makes my client look bad? Yeah, you fucked with it and now we can't trust it.

* Expert A is claiming to have found something on the drive. Did Expert B also see that? If not, let's have Expert B go back and look for it to ensure it's on his copy too. If it is, we're done with the argument about it existing. If it isn't, we need to go look at the original to find out who's full of shit.

If they ever don't take the original hard drive or inventory it, process the chain of custody properly - call it out for the worthless crock of shit that the alleged evidence is.

Not a cop - just an expert witness in digital forensic cases around the country

2/24/2018 02:19:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I could fill you in if you feel the need to sneeze *wink wink*

2/24/2018 02:23:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The whole hard drives are taken because of chain of custody and because you can actually recover deleted files when necessary. In magnetic drives, physical memeory needs to overwritten 7 times to ensure the content cannot be restored.

Overwriting multiple times is done in a specific manner to prevent recovery. It's detailed here:

https://eraser.heidi.ie/appendix-a-erasure-methods/

look at: US Department of Defense DoD 5220.22-M(ECE)

Some people who wish to be able to claim that the drive is "new" and wasn't erased do an eighth pass with all zeroes because that's how new drives show up.

This 7 pass to securely erase procedure comes from a paper written by Peter Gutman, et. al (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutmann_method)

Back in the day when hard drives had much less capacity, there was enough space between pieces of data that one could use an electron microscope to recover old data. Overwriting each bit multiple times obscured the original magnetic imprint enough that it wasn't subject to this recovery.

But that only applies to physical, mechanical hard drives. For added giggles, peel the stickers off it with the identifying information about anything (make, model, serial #, controller board version), rip off the controller board from the bottom (destroy that with a sander), then take the remainder of the drive to a plinking pit and use it to sight in your 30-06...make it dance a few times.

Flash or SSD's? Due to the way the drive controller electronics ensure the memory gets used (known as wear-leveling), you can't be certain that every bit is being overwritten - even if you tell the drive to do it. The controller intercedes in a transparent manner. So to "overwrite" these drives you destroy them. Take a sander to the thing and turn it into dust (wear a mask so you don't breathe that crap in).

Yeah, I know - geeky, and sounds paranoid. I am a geek, and I know of what I speak - if you don't want it recovered, this is what you have to do. Best to not get it recorded in the first place - much less trouble than this data destruction process.

2/24/2018 02:34:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

For transparency and accountability every city worker, including Rahm and alderthieves, should constantly be recorded as well.
Since it’s all about transparency and accountability nobody would have a problem with that right Rahm??


Why do you think CPD has a platoon of these ass kissing camera repair people?
Why do you think they get carte Blanche on O.T.?

2/24/2018 03:29:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

CPD and Rahm will tell you over and over that all these recording devices are for officers benefit and safety.
We all know that it’s all about recording and chronicling our every move, thought, fart etc.
GFY!!

2/24/2018 03:32:00 AM  
Blogger Z3D12 said...

Radio tech here... hi from OEMC (hope the newer APX radios are lasting)

I don't have much responsibility in the cam way of things, but I do know when power is applied there's a constant 30 second (or 5sec or 1min it's programmable on a per camera basis) rotation of audio & video recording being deleted and re-written constantly to on board RAM.

19paul...... stay safe

2/24/2018 04:15:00 AM  
Blogger Z3D12 said...

As well some of the vehicle cams are on the City's old 800 MDT freqs (or cellular I forget what it is now) and can be viewed live or have it's storage pulled without UI-user indication (The newer APX radios have "remote monitor" as well but I don't think we ever enabled it much if at all

2/24/2018 04:19:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I Fart In Your General Direction said:

“off-putting goings on”


Now, there’s a description. Those four little words can cover a multitude of weirdness.

2/24/2018 04:26:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I’m more of a paramecium.

2/23/2018 05:56:00 PM



And, thusly, the class wars begin.........

2/24/2018 04:35:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ICC is a constant loop. Activating lights tells unit what to upload at end of tour. Not sure how large that "loop" is...24/48hrs. I assume. That's why hard drives are pulled in major incidents. If you don't any footage is lost (within that loop) that wasn't marked for upload by the lights being activated.

BWC does not work this way. Yes there is a constant 30 sec buffer when activated, but having the ability to pull your entire tour... using washroom, talking on the phone would be an enormous violation of your rights.

Dipstick in 006 had his camera turned on when he was deleting photos.... needless to say he was not aware.

2/24/2018 10:06:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just assume they are recording your every move on the job and monitoring your social media.

2/24/2018 12:07:00 PM  
Blogger Ragman said...

When I did nuke work some years ago there were cameras everywhere. I was vetted and held a rather low level security clearance, but still had eyes watching me everywhere I went watching everything I did. Even had fed security accompany me sometimes, watching me. Always wondered, did they really think I would pocket some of that stuff to take home? Hell, I didn't want to be around that shit even in a controlled area with all the safeguards. Get used to it guys. It's the new normal. Nobody trusts anybody anymore. What a world.

2/25/2018 12:19:00 PM  
Blogger Ragman said...

Anybody that has any social media accounts should drop them or be very very cautious in their use. I have no social media accounts and will never have one. You can get jammed up very easily for just expressing your thoughts. Not worth it. Everything you do or say is stored somewhere in this universe. Anything you say can AND Will be used against you!

2/25/2018 12:31:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So, when you throw out or donate that old computer of yours, spend 5 minutes and pull the hard drive out. Personally, I then take it apart and remove the platters. The platters are then affixed in a vise, and I let loose with a propane torch until each platter is a molten red hot clump of aluminum. then it is disposed of.

2/25/2018 05:08:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Filming"!?!? Morons....say "recording" instead.

2/28/2018 01:32:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...
So, when you throw out or donate that old computer of yours, spend 5 minutes and pull the hard drive out. Personally, I then take it apart and remove the platters. The platters are then affixed in a vise, and I let loose with a propane torch until each platter is a molten red hot clump of aluminum. then it is dispose

Do that or easier to drill a few holes in them as it throws the balance off and they can spin correctly. Or throw some acid on them. Hard to break apartm

3/01/2018 06:35:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can only address the Sheriff's Police Cameras. If the unit is turned on then It is recording visually only with no audio. When the camera is activated (turned to record a call), then the thirty seconds before the Ofc's activation is retained (no audio). The audio starts when the Ofc. activates the recording. Therefore, the whole film starts with 30 seconds of visual only. I believe that our cams don't have any other recordings retained.

3/10/2018 01:26:00 PM  

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