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| Adding ‘Legal’ or ‘Forensic’ to Your Video Expertise |
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March 5, 2009
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I recently received an e-mail from a Government Video reader who operates a small production company in the Northwest. He wanted to branch out by adding forensic video analysis to his suite of services, something I’ve heard with increasing frequency since the popular “CSI” series have appeared on TV. The question at the center of these conversations is, “How do I get started?”
‘FORENSIC’ V. ‘LEGAL’
First we have to clarify exactly what we are talking about. While the definition of “forensic” technically means any material used or for use in court, many people make a distinction between “forensic” and “legal” video. However, as a legally qualified video expert, those lines and definitions get blurred. Typically the “conventional” breakdown goes like this:
“Legal Video” is the term applied to productions like video depositions, settlement documentaries, day-inthe- life documentaries, video wills, pre-construction site surveys, construction draw documentaries, and so on.
“Forensic Video” in most people’s minds means autopsy video, crime or incident scene surveys, security and surveillance video processing, 3D incident reconstruction, emulation or simulation, or photometric analysis.
The problem for technically proficient people entering these fields is the court requirements for certification as a “video expert.” While you may have the technical know-how and detailed knowledge of the rules of civil procedure and federal rules of evidence pertaining to “electronic media,” courts often want some paper that proves your expert status. Sometimes this can be established by getting on an “approved” service provider list by a given jurisdiction. Other times it needs to be established by curriculum vitae (CV), including citation of appropriate professional certifications.
GETTING CREDENTIALED
For “Legal Video,” it is impossible to top the American Guild of Court Videographers (www.agcv.com) for education, certification and ongoing information and training and all aspects of legal video,
For “Forensic Video,” the primary organization to
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WAYNE COLE
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contact would be the Law Enforcement and Emergency Services Video Association, aka LEVA (www.leva.org). While the AGCV is primarily for private professional videographers who want to add the knowledge of law and procedure for producing legal video, LEVA is geared toward training for law enforcement and other public professionals who do not have technical professional video skills but are required to handle or process video as part of their jobs.
If you are into photogrammetry (photometric/dynamic analysis of still or video imagery), you will fall into a gray area neither organization covers. For this field, you would require a college degree in a related science and a convincing CV indicating appropriate experience to pass the Daubert standard before you could qualify as a “video photometric analysis expert” in court.
TOOLING UP AND STARTING UP
If you plan to “go it alone” as a single person or small independent company providing these services to the legal community or government agencies, you will need to invest significant energy in marketing to get a good ROI on training and tools. The conventional wisdom is that you would need to cultivate relationships with attorneys and court reporting firms for legal video. Forensic video contacts would include private investigators, district attorneys, police agencies, forensic engineering firms, public defender agencies (usually available through district attorney or federal prosecutor offices) and district court approved vendor or expert agencies.
The unconventional wisdom is that, regardless of which of these two main areas you might specialize in, marketing to all those contacts will work even better. “Forensic” analysis is not needed solely by the prosecution or plaintiff. It can be equally necessary and effective when used by the defense. Likewise, legal video knowledge and skills can apply with equal effect to either side of a case, whether criminal or civil.
With the right training and expertise, you might be able to get work in a public agency as a legal/forensic video specialist. While working in legal/forensic video as an independent or private company may be riskier, it is potentially more rewarding.
In these tough economic times it could easily be the difference between remaining independent or having to give up your entrepreneurial endeavors to go back to the nine-to-five world. After all, the conventional wisdom is that when the economy goes down, crime and civil suits go up which could increase the demand for certified, qualified legal and forensic video experts.
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