Video Forensics Expert Discusses Surveillance Footage Enhancement Techniques

This case involves a man who was allegedly beaten by bouncers at a nightclub after being mistaken for another patron who had made threats against nightclub staff earlier in the evening. At the time of the incident in question, the man was celebrating his birthday at the club when another individual, who was dressed similarly to the plaintiff, got into a verbal altercation with nightclub staff. Allegedly, nightclub bouncers then mistook the Plaintiff for the man who had argued with staff, and forcibly removed him from the club, causing serious injuries in the process. An expert was requested to enhance and analyse security footage of the incident to determine what happened during the incident.

Question(s) For Expert Witness

1. Please briefly describe your experience in video forensics as it pertains to security footage.

2. Are you capable of enhancing the video of the incident?

Expert Witness Response E-074586

I would first analyze the digital video material to form an opinion as to its likely source, integrity, and reliability. I would next extract the available metadata for each digital frame. The video would next be broken into individual single-frame image files using a lossless process. The image files would be processed (including cropping and enlargement, as required) to improve clarity, remove noise, or otherwise "clean up" the area of interest. The individual image files would then be reassembled into a video file for final processing and review. I have reviewed several similar cases that required video to be cleaned up in order to determine when/what occurred at certain times. For example, I have worked with video that involved cash transactions at registers. My most recent case required me to ascertain whether or not a vehicle's hazard flashers were activated and at what point in time relative to a collision. I am very experienced in breaking a video down into individual frames (images) and sequencing them.