I have operated in the freelance covert surveillance industry for over twenty years, carrying out in excess of five hundred surveillance operations. These have predominantly been insurance claims matters. My duties have included organising surveillance personnel, carrying out surveillance operations, editing gathered film and compiling reports. Since 2007 I have concurrently acted as a video surveillance evidence consultant being called to give opinion on the way video evidence has been gathered and presented.
In order to increase my qualifications, in 2018 I applied to attend residential courses hosted by LEVA (Law Enforcement Video Association). Established in 1989, LEVA is a not for profit corporation committed to providing advanced training and certification in the science of forensic video analysis.
LEVA are based in the United States but are the recognised authority in video evidence forensics and are the training providers for all the United Kingdom’s police forces. The courses were held in conjunction with Nottinghamshire Police at Nottingham Trent University and are normally held exclusively for police and other government agencies, however due to my position in the private sector, my application was accepted. I passed and am now a qualified LEVA Certified Forensic Video Technician.
My experience and industry knowledge means that I can identify and highlight to the courts any issues relating to the absence of film where from an operational point of view, I would expect film to have been gathered. My further training has furnished me with the skills to carry out forensic examination of original recording media (Should it be available).
Forensic examination of the original recording media and the Meta Data (Data about Data) held within the original recording media allows me to explore the exact time and date that the film was gathered, if it has subsequently been accessed and modified and also if it has been edited or manipulated.
I have given lectures on the subject of video evidence to many leading UK law associations. I have written articles on the subject of surveillance evidence for leading law and trade journals and produced copyright protected training and advisory manuals.
I am instructed to provide reports on third party gathered video evidence in the capacity of a Video Evidence Analysis Expert approximately 30-50 times per year