Camera Phone Question

[Tampa Caver]

I have a question. Can camera phone photos and videos be admissable in court proceedings? Does anyone know of any cases where this has been used?

[jdm]

OK, fess up. What did you do?

:O)

[jdontom]

If you have evidence of a crime as it happens on your camera phone, that is admisible in a court of law.

[Tampa Caver]

I don't have a picture cell phone yet and am considering one with photo features. I would think that if enough people had them in their possession, crime could be deterred. I'm just asking if the images would be legal in court. That's all.

[Tampa Caver]

Thanks

[MindBender26]

No reason the images would be any less admissable than other images of like quality, in line with any rules set by the court of jurisdiction.

Chain of custody could be a problem.

Main problem will be with image quality.

[txroadkill]

Check it out:

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/7-03192004-267058.html

ATLANTA - When Lisa Johnson saw a man exposing himself to her in a parking lot, she reached for her cell phone - not to call 911, but to snap a picture.

The images captured on her camera phone led police to the capture of the former principal of a nearby high school. After his arrest on public indecency charges last month, he resigned from a lower school job.

Cell phones that can take pictures are becoming a more common way for victims and other witnesses to help police capture criminals. Because the phones are so portable and always on, it takes only a moment to photograph the face or license plate of someone in the act of a crime.

"I guess I was just quick on my toes," said Johnson, who lives in Alpharetta, about 20 miles north of Atlanta. "I had my hand in my pocket, and rather than hit him and break my phone, I remembered there was a camera."

Camera phones are still a relatively new technology, but already police can point to cases where they have been an important tool.

In New Jersey last year, a 15-year-old boy foiled an abduction attempt when he took pictures of a man trying to lure him into a car. In Pittsburgh last month, several visiting St. John's University basketball players were cleared of a rape accusation after one team member gave investigators his cell phone, which he had used to videotape some of the encounter.

In Japan, an 18-year-old woman took a photo of a 38-year-old man who was fondling her on a commuter train, and police arrested him at the next stop. In Sweden, a convenience store owner took a picture of a robber that was used to help identify and arrest the criminal.

[Horatio Gates]

Chain of custody could be a problem.

Exactly. The images would have to be retained on the recording medium and not uploaded to another medium to avoid any issues or challenges regarding image tampering or diminished quality of the image. So not only would the recording be evidence the recording device could potentially be evidence too.

[Tampa Caver]

So what you are saying is to take the pics but then hand the phone to the authorities without downloading them, correct?

[Horatio Gates]

Possibly. If thats what is required by the rules of evidence in whatever court jurisdiction would review a particular matter

I don't think photo cell phones have a removable memory card. If there is any photo evidence then the whole camera may have to be submitted

We had some issues with officers documenting some of their investigations with their own cameras then uploading the images to the city server for later reference then printing up a hard copy to submit. The prosecutor determined he couldn't use any of it since it wasn't the original or transferred over for viewable use by certified forensic employees. Some of the reasoning was that digital images can be easily manipulated. As it is now the SOP is that the officers aren't allowed to have cameras. Its overkill since pics like that help for accident scenes and other cases where diagramming comes in even if there's no intention of using it as evidence