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A Bodycam Footage Redaction Solution Customizable for a Range of Uses

A Bodycam Footage Redaction Solution Customizable for a Range of Uses
December 2, 2022
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Intro to Footage Redaction

A European company offering professional body-worn cameras and video technology was established over a decade ago and has grown enormously, with a presence in both the European and Asian bodycam markets. The company also offers hosting and storage services and is well-recognized in its field.

Operating in over 40 countries and servicing over 500 customers, the company is a predominant bodycam market leader in several European countries. It provides the ultimate cutting-edge technology for both recording and live streaming. Partnering with well-known companies, it offers back-end support and services for more complete video management solutions.

However, in light of increased terror threats, the company became increasingly aware of the  need to for additional support for frontline professionals in the field, to help them deal with the unexpected and the aftermath

After searching the internet, the bodycam provider’s CEO discovered Sighthound’s website. Following the quick and easy demo for Redactor, he decided that the auto video redaction software from Sighthound Redactor would be a great fit and would meet his company’s needs perfectly.

The CEO shared, “The software was chosen because it does the job well and could be integrated into the business’s software. The team behind it also made a good impression during the selection process.” 

Footage Redaction Background

Although the company offers solutions primarily for police, traffic wardens, security officers, and firemen, recent high levels of societal aggression mean that these solutions are also being used increasingly by prison staff, social workers, health care- and railway workers. The bodycam market is growing exponentially as virtually any employee might face threats of abuse, whether they are retailers, journalists, or ambulance staff, who may need support in fending off attackers and stabilizing patients. 

Effects Everyone including Healthcare

Bodycam solutions are much more than the camera but extend to the hardware design, software capabilities, and data storage services to ensure that video footage is accessible either for reviewing previous events or leveraged in real-time for live collaboration. Bodycam backup is ideal for those assigned to repair critical infrastructures, such as engineers since it allows effective collaboration and support for those on-site.

The Bodycam Company's Challenge Before Redactor

Prior to using Sighthound Redactor, there was a need for well-developed redaction software that would integrate with the company’s own state-of-the-art software to give customers the best results. With the amount of footage captured and stored, and pressing data privacy laws additional tools were necessary for customers. This would allow customers the ability  to select videos and configure  automated redaction of faces or other sensitive information.

As bodycams are set to protect the wearer they are also intended to protect those that are being filmed. Protection of privacy when sharing videos regardless of the scene is an important piece of the company’s software offering.  

How the Company Used Redactor to Overcome Regulatory Challenges

“I’m confident that we made the right choice. Sighthound Redactor is well-developed redaction software that has been seamlessly integrated into the company’s software.”

- CEO, Bodycam company

For the business’s clients, the biggest plus has to be the easy, automated redaction of faces and other personally identifiable information in case they need to show recorded bodycam video to others, as is often the case in law enforcement.   

With body-worn cameras being used more extensively to increase actual and perceived safety and provide indisputable evidence for efficient prosecution and justice, there is an obvious need for strong artificial intelligence, and deep learning Sighthound Reactor provides. 

Redactor is capable of performing and automating tasks to accomplish, in a fraction of the time, what would otherwise require human cognitive skills and many labor-intensive man-hours.     

According to the CEO, in recent years, his company has had to anticipate sweeping changes, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) regulations adopted in 2016 and implemented in 2018. These made video redaction a “must-have” feature in digital video evidence management systems.

Not only is the redacted video footage captured by body cams admissible in court as useful evidence, but clients can also use the footage in other ways, such as creating videos for evaluation and training. Because of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), privacy regulations in force in the European Union and European Economic Area require accurate redaction.

Why the Bodycam Solutions Company Chose Redactor

Sighthound’s Redactor software is touted as being the fastest, most accurate, easiest-to-use video redaction product. According to the body cam provider, the chief benefits are that “it is automated, user-friendly, and has a technologically advanced look.”

The product is so state-of-the-art that it operates well, even for poorly-lit footage, and there is no need to manually draw boxes around redaction subjects. Sighthound Redactor automatically finds faces, license plates, and other data in video feeds and files, obscuring it with either a solid color, mosaic filter, blur, or pixelating.  

Arrest Video Footage with Officer’s Face Redacted

The accuracy of the tool and the expertise of the solution gave the company the confidence it needed to invest in the integration and provide a great solution to its already established customer base.

“We have integrated the Sighthound Redactor Video Redaction software into our video management software solutions to enable our clients to access, manage, redact and share video quickly and easily.” 

- CEO, Bodycam company

The fact that no technical experience is necessary to operate Sighthound Redactor is also a factor, as body cameras need speedy redaction in times of crisis, or when managing multiple views from officers with body cams during incident reviews.

How Can Sighthound Redactor Help You?

With over 1300 users globally, Sighthound Redactor is well-recognized in the public safety and law enforcement industry and the bodycam company directly supports that market making them an ideal partner. Sighthound, like the bodycam company, prioritizes the needs of their customer and provides solutions that are easy to use and can be accessible when and where the customer needs it.  

Sighthound Redactor offers scalable solutions for every business needs whether that is a video redaction that is accessible from cloud to a scalable and integrated deployment. 

Sighthound Redactor supports operational and reporting requirements for compliance with EU and other regional  privacy laws. Customers of Redactor can have confidence they can reduce their risk of data privacy fines when making sure their videos are stored properly and shared only when personal information is hidden from unnecessary viewers. 

“Our bodycam devices ensure the digital support of the frontline professional’s team. Our mobile video intelligence and evidence systems allow employees to work more safely with extra eyes in the field. Thanks to Sighthound Redactor, our system is compliant and configurable to any privacy law or operational procedures. It can be easily integrated with other systems.” 

- CEO, Bodycam company

To see a demo of this practical redaction solution, or find out more about pricing, email redactor@sighthound.com or phone (407) 974-5694.

Next Read: Check out the Easy Guide to US Privacy Laws.

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