Data protection is essential and should be treated as a top priority by every body camera provider. NetCo Professional Services GmbH has made it its mission to provide you with comprehensive support for your body camera project as “your body camera partner” – that’s why we don’t leave you alone when it comes to data protection and provide you with GDPR-compliant solutions. But data protection is not only important when it comes to data transfer; there are also a few rules to follow when using body cams. ## What do you need to bear in mind from a data protection perspective when using a body cam? Body cams may only be switched on when conflicts escalate and there is a threat to the wearer or other persons involved. It is important that everyone being filmed is informed about the body camera recording. The body camera announces the start of recording with a warning tone and the LED lamp lighting up – this ensures that everyone involved can clearly see that the body camera is now documenting the situation.
In some situations, security personnel cannot yet assess whether a conflict situation will arise soon or not, which is why the body cam can also be used to store images. These serve as a preventive measure and initial warning. Depending on the situation, however, pre-recording can also be used: body cam recordings can be stored up to two minutes before the start of each recording. In the event of sudden conflict situations, valuable material is thus stored even before the actual recording begins. If the situation calms down again and the body camera material is not needed, the pre-recording is automatically discarded.
If a conflict persists and cannot be de-escalated by the use of the body camera – which can happen with intoxicated individuals – the small camera is used to secure evidence. Audio recordings are particularly important here, as they can also be used in court later on.
Taking data protection requirements into account, we can configure individual image and sound settings on the body camera for you. Please feel free to contact us for more information! Regardless of the type of recording used, there is one golden rule to follow: uninvolved third parties must not be recorded. ## Which settings ensure data security on the body camera and in the NetCo Suite?
As soon as a recording is made, the material is watermarked and encrypted directly on the body cam. This means that it is not possible to access the data via the camera. In addition, all material is tamper-proof thanks to the addition of metadata (user, location, date/time).
The body cam recordings are exported to a server in encrypted form via a secure channel. After transmission, all recordings are automatically deleted from the body cam. Body cam recordings can only be viewed in NetCo Suite if you have the appropriate authorisation. In every company or public authority, only a specific group of people is granted access to the body cam material. This is to ensure that the recordings are only viewed by as many people as necessary. Encrypted export and thus viewing of the data is possible via the NetCo Media Player included in NetCo Suite. The unbroken encryption chain prevents manipulation of the material and data leaks. In addition, each body cam recording has fixed deletion periods, which our software solution automatically complies with.