MOSCOW – The Latah County Sheriff’s Office has contracted with Utility Associates Inc, to purchase a new state-of-the-art digital evidence system, which includes software, body cameras, and vehicle cameras. Latah County Sheriff’s Office has utilized body cameras since 2007, however, with advances in technology, our old cameras and software are outdated and beginning to fail.
This purchase will be funded using grant funds, not property tax dollars. As Sheriff Skiles said, “Not only will this system outperform our current capabilities, it will also enhance reliability, transparency, and prosecution.”
The Utility solution has been built to support robust connectivity with video and still image offload from the field, along with GPS location data, and receipt of communications from the Evidence Management Software. Utility’s EOS body camera uploads video directly to the In-Car camera storage system via a secure and encrypted WiFi connection.
All evidence is encrypted at rest and in transit, as well as while being maintained in cloud storage. This ensures that all video, audio, and metadata are stored in a CJIS-compliant platform. The utility provides direct user input of Notes, Video Classifications, and other metadata for both videos and still photographs through an interactive touch screen on the body camera.
The utility uses a tamper-resistant system designed to not allow any user to edit or delete recordings at any point in time. All actions are entered into the chain of custody. Polaris is the Utility Digital Evidence Management Platform that manages a comprehensive chain of custody audit trail, logging, and reporting. Polaris supports video and audio evidence review, classification, and dissemination from body-worn cameras,
In- Car/Vehicle Unit Cameras, Prisoner Transport Vehicles, and Interview Room cameras. Polaris gives administrators the ability to easily share videos with State Attorney’s Offices, private attorneys, media outlets, and public record requests either by emailing web links, copying videos to external storage media, or granting secure access to the system to view specific videos.
SOURCE: Big Country News