Visalia Police Get Video Boost
The Department of Homeland Security will provide a $35,500 grant to Visalia, Calif., police investigators to purchase a forensic video enhancement system that will allow them to view security videotapes ranging from traffic accidents to a crime in a convenience store. The Visalia City Council accepted the grant after it was approved this past September.
There are misconceptions as to how forensic video enhancement actually works.
“On TV, they show a very pixelated item, they push a button and then they can see it clearly,” says Jim Potts at the Visalia Police Department. “What we expect to be able to do is take surveillance video that’s dimly lit and enhance it to lighten it up or bring our more color so we can see it better.”
Potts says with the system they can enhance video images, but they cannot enhance a poor quality video. The system can slow down time-lapse video, freeze images, and improve audio recordings.
The video enhancement system is scheduled to arrive sometime this month.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) from the Fresno Bee (CA); 11/03/06; P. 1; Sheehan, Tim.
