Retail and commercial premises typically operate video systems that overwrite on cycles measured in days or weeks. Once an incident occurs and litigation is anticipated, the relevant footage must be preserved.
Disputes commonly concern the amount of footage retained, since preserving only the moments of the fall may omit evidence of how long the hazard existed.
Alternative Names:
Surveillance Preservation, CCTV Preservation
Why it Matters?
The scope of preservation is where these disputes actually arise. A defendant that saves ninety seconds around the fall but allows the preceding two hours to overwrite has destroyed the evidence most relevant to constructive notice, and courts have treated that as spoliation even where the incident itself was preserved. The practical rule is to preserve substantially more footage than seems necessary, from before the hazard appeared through after the response.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
How much video should be preserved?
What happens if footage is overwritten?
