14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is working with the Bexar County, Texas, to find a more efficient way of delivering police body camera videos to prosecutors and law enforcement and streamline the process of collecting evidence and solving cases.
Currently, the local police is providing prosecutors with body camera recordings using traditional DVDs, which are not only costly but also require more time before the videos are received by law enforcement authorities.
“There’s no problem when we finally get them. It’s getting them to us in a timely manner so we can evaluate the cases and move them along,” Nico LaHood, Bexar County district attorney, is quoted as saying by KSAT.
Temporary solution
As they are looking for a way to streamline the process and make it faster and easier for prosecutors to get these recordings, Microsoft has proposed a cloud-based solution that would allow them to securely store all videos. The county would have to pay for the system $580,000 the initial investment and other $209,000 annually.
A trial will start in the first quarter of 2017, and until then, the county is looking to improve body camera video sharing by setting up its own servers that would provide prosecutors with quick access.
“We are working on an interim solution that will be in place this fall that isn’t leveraging the Microsoft platform, but will allow us to reduce the manual steps of burning DVDs and transporting them to the DA. Then we pick up that evidence and we get it over and put it into the DA’s system of record,” Mark Gager, Chief Information and Technology Officer for Bexar County, is quoted as saying.
The police body cameras are currently still in the piloting stage, but the local authorities are looking for ways to improve their use, and with Microsoft’s cloud-based solutions, they hope to increase their efficiency and help evaluate cases faster than before.