A picture is worth a thousand words and prosecutors know that to be true when it comes to video from the scenes and vicinities of crimes. The availability of video surveillance is changing the prosecution of serious crime in Westchester County. Police in Westchester aggressively obtain video from crime scenes, surrounding neighborhoods, and, sometimes, from multiple streets and locations where defendants were before, during and after a crime is committed.

Once the police obtain the digital footage from these locations, ADAs must carefully view it, make notes, and compare one video to the next. Prosecutors say this is invaluable evidence. It is hard for a defendant to deny holding a gun on someone or being at a crime scene when the video is produced. As a result of the increasing use of surveillance video in investigations, guilty pleas are more frequent saving time and law enforcement resources.

Photo
Still frame of video surveillance tapes submitted into evidence at the trial of Errol Hillary in the Christmas Day nightclub shooting rampage which left the owner dead and five others injured in Mount Vernon.

 _______________

Media contact:
media@westchesterda.net
(914) 995-3586