Dash cam admissible in court

[mrjamoc]

Was talking with a coworker of mine. We both use dash cams in our work trucks(our choice not required). He said he read someplace that videos are admissible to court only if the video type is of a non editable version of the file.
Is anyone familiar with this?
I need a new dash cam and want to make sure I get this style he is mentioning.
Thanks to all and have a great day!

 

[SawMaster]

The process may vary, but generally any evidence is admissible unless someone can show it has been altered or it has been proven as unreliable in the past. I've never heard where dashcam footage was denied in the US, but certain European countries do this because of their privacy laws. You will need to submit the original recording (ie the card) and not a copy, although that might be accepted in cases where the original isn't accessible but the file was saved elsewhere.

Phil

 

[WeedeaterDM]

When one of my accidents developed a felony criminal investigation, the detectives wanted me to make them a copy of the original unedited file. So durring one of our recorded interviews at my home, I popped in the sd card and burnned a cd copy for them. They were going after the other driver for two different counts of insurance fraud. The insurance companies involved accepted the youtube version to make their decisions accepting fault. The prosecutor was so confident about this case, she didn't feel my youtube video could hurt it.

I did go to court for an accident I witnessed. The complete edited video took two original camera files. I had a copy of it on my phone and the accident victim had a cd copy I made for him, plus I posted it to youtube for his insurance company to see. We ended up not using it for two reasons, first is they told me they would have to keep my phone as evidence and I could get it back at a later date. The other is the judge or officials had no password to access the computer on his desk. But the ticketing officer did get to see the video at the accident and the judge accepted his description of what he had seen in it.

 

[Copwriter]

For a dash cam video to be admitted into evidence, you’ll need a complete, unedited version of it, and someone to attest that it’s an accurate record of the events, e.g. authentication. If you intend to present the video in court, either find out what type of media they can handle in advance, or bring it in multiple formats—on a CD, a flash drive, and maybe on a laptop. Have a copy for yourself, the other side (the state or defense), and one you can leave with the court. Don’t have any other files on the CD or flash drive.