Short answer
After an incident, the first thing is to stop the recorder from writing new footage over the incident section: export the relevant section to a USB stick right away, or lock it on the device. Note the difference between the device clock and the real time, and keep the original files, covering the time before and after the incident, in two separate places. Hand the recording over according to the request of the authorized authority; do not share it on social media.
In the first hours: prevent the recording from being deleted
Recorders overwrite the oldest recording when the disk is full. If the disk goes back only a few days, the recording of the incident will be erased by itself within a few days. The moment you notice the incident, securing the recording is the first job.
Find the time range of the incident in the recorder's menu and export this section to a USB stick. Many devices also have a feature to lock a section of recording; a locked section is not overwritten. If you do not know how to export, do not turn off, reset or remove the disk from the device. Call the company that installed the system; they may be able to connect remotely and help.
In a burglary, the recorder itself can also be a target. If the device is still in place and the incident is serious, make sure nobody touches the room where the recorder is until the export is done.
If the recording is kept only on a cloud service tied to a phone or on the camera's memory card, the situation is a little different. On cloud services, recordings are deleted after a certain time depending on your plan; download the relevant section from the app right away. For a camera that records to a memory card, the camera must stop recording before the card is removed, otherwise the file may be corrupted. If you are not sure, leave the card in place and ask for support.
Expert note: Try the export process once before an incident happens. Not knowing the admin password, or the device not recognizing the USB stick, is the most valuable time lost on the day of the incident.
Note the device clock and the time of the incident
The recorder's clock may be wrong. Devices whose clock was reset after a power outage, or never set at all, write a different time on the recordings, off by minutes or even hours. You may be asked about this difference when handing over the recording.
Compare the time on the device screen with your phone's clock and write the difference on a piece of paper. If possible, take a photo showing the device screen and the phone clock together. Also note the time the incident starts in the recording and which cameras it appears on.
A clock difference is not a problem by itself; what matters is that the difference is known and can be explained. After the handover, correct the device's clock and set it to get the time automatically from the internet. Do not try to correct the clock before the incident; on some devices, changing the clock backward can mix up the order of recordings.
Which recordings should you export?
Take not only the incident itself but also what came before and after. In a theft, the suspect arriving at the shop, the moment they dropped by earlier to scout, or the vehicle they got into after the incident may appear on separate cameras and at different times.
To find which cameras are relevant, use the recorder's smart search or motion search feature. This feature lists the moments with motion in a certain area of a certain camera; instead of watching hours of recording, you reach the moment of the incident in a few minutes. Note every moment you find together with the camera name and time; do the export according to this list.
- The recording from all the cameras where the incident appears.
- The section covering a few minutes before and after the incident.
- The same time range from the entrance, exit and exterior cameras.
- The moments when the suspect is thought to have dropped by on earlier days.
- The recorder's own player program, if the file is in a proprietary format.
- 1Prevent the recording from being overwritten
- 2Note the device clock
- 3Export the relevant cameras
- 4Keep two separate copies
- 5Hand over to the authority with a record of delivery
Protect the original file
The recorder exports the file in its own format or in a common video format. Whatever the format, do not change the exported original file: do not trim it, compress it, or rename it and save it with another program. Work on a copy for viewing or sharing.
Filming the monitor with a phone or taking a screen recording from the app is quick but lowers the quality and may lose the recording's date, time and camera information. Use this kind of footage only for first information; what is actually handed over is the original file taken from the recorder.
Keep two copies of the file in two separate places: one on a USB stick, the other on a computer or an external disk. Next to the file, write a short note saying who took the recording, on which day and time, and from which device. This note answers questions when it is asked when and how the recording was taken.
Before the handover, open the USB stick on another computer and check that the file really plays. If the file opens only with the recorder's own program, copy the program onto the same stick as well.
Who do you hand the recording to, and how?
In a criminal incident, the recording is usually handed to the law enforcement unit investigating the incident or to the prosecutor's office. Follow the instructions of the authorized authority on how the handover is to be done, who will take the recording, and whether the recorder itself will also be requested. Make sure the stick or file you hand over is received with a record of delivery, and keep your own copy.
An insurance company, a neighboring business, or a person affected by the incident may also ask for the recording. Because the recording also contains other people's images, be careful about what you give to whom from the standpoint of personal data protection. For such requests and for legal matters about the use of the recording, consult a lawyer.
Do not share the recording on social media
After an incident, sharing the recording on social media to expose the suspect is one of the first things that comes to mind. This can both violate the rights of other people visible in the recording and lead to the wrong person being accused. It can also make the work of the unit investigating the incident harder. Share the recording only with the authorized authorities and with the people your legal adviser considers appropriate.
Be prepared before an incident
The process after an incident becomes easier with a few small preparations made beforehand. Keep the recorder's admin password in a safe place and make sure at least two people at the business know it. Keep an empty, formatted USB stick next to the recorder. Set the device's clock to get the time automatically from the internet. Know how many days back the recording goes, and if this is not enough for your needs, enlarge the disk.
Turn this preparation into a one-page instruction and put it next to the recorder: where the device is, who has the password, how to export, and the phone number of the company that did the installation. On the day of the incident, this page helps a panicking employee take the right step.
Frequently asked
After how many days is a camera recording deleted?
It depends on the disk capacity, the number of cameras and the recording settings. The recorder overwrites the oldest recording when the disk is full. You can find out how many days back your own system goes by looking at the date of the oldest recording on the recorder.
Can a deleted camera recording be recovered?
Recovering a section that has had new footage written over it is often not possible. That is why, as soon as you notice the incident, you need to export or lock the relevant section. If the disk has physically failed, data recovery is a separate specialty and the result cannot be known in advance.
Is a video I took of the monitor with my phone enough?
It is useful for first information, but its quality is low and it may not carry the recording's date, time and camera information. For the handover, prepare the original file exported from the recorder.
If you are having trouble getting the recording
Tell us the brand of your recorder and the time of the incident, and let Desa Bilişim help with exporting the recording, remotely or on site.
