Anytime an agency launches a program that captures video, no matter the source, there are a plethora of concerns to plan for. Those concerns include initial cost, data storage, platform interchangeability, hardware location and more. What often doesn’t get recognized or planned for is the amount of time that can be spent managing the audio/video data files, especially the time preparing them for release due to court needs, attorney subpoenas, freedom of information requests and more. The time spent redacting a single 10-minute video could take hours, depending on the software system being used. Enter Veritone Redact, an AI-powered audio and video redaction software application.
Veritone Redact, a cloud-based redaction tool, empowers an agency to manage and extract information from images as well as recorded or live audio and video. It doesn’t matter what the video’s source is, per the Veritone Redact published information. Whether it’s CCTV, body-worn cameras, dash cameras, drone footage, smartphone recordings or another source, Veritone Redact can process them and blur out a host of personally identifying information. In addition, it also offers an inverse blur capability that enables users to make a subject visible while the area around the target is redacted to further protect personal information.
Before we interviewed any agency representative who had used Veritone Redact firsthand, our test team wanted to accomplish two things: 1) we wanted to fully understand the burden of video redaction, and 2) we wanted to get a product demonstration from a Veritone representative so we could understand what it was supposed to do. (Editor’s Note: It’s always interesting to interview an officer who has been using a product for months but then, during the interview, finds out the product has capabilities they weren’t aware of)
To understand the burden of video redaction, we interviewed a Major from a municipal agency just outside Washington DC, the Deputy Chief of a 25-man agency. That Major was charged with managing all agency video and, as part of those duties, redacting all videos released in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. The Major made it clear that video redaction was a huge time drain unless a proper AI-supported redaction software suite was used and he was careful to say that it had to be one compatible with the agency’s video file types.
With that understanding, we sat and received an operational demonstration from personnel at Veritone. As we understood the software capabilities after the demonstration, Veritone Redact will automatically blur heads, as well as license plates, notepads, and any computer screens visible in the captured video. “Computer screens” includes the screens of display pads, mobile data terminals and other screens of various sizes. It also blurs text that appears in the video such as signs, house numbers and any text-heavy logos. A strength we didn’t expect was the automated transcription capability followed by the audio-redaction function for any text tagged in the transcript created.
Per the product’s published materials, Veritone Redact boasts a 90%+ accuracy rate in automatically identifying and redacting personal identification information depending on the quality of audio and video file. With cloud-based accessibility, the Veritone solution offers the ultimate convenience for those tasked with redacting duties by not being tied down to a fixed single computer station and being able to work from home or from one’s personal work station.
Then, with all of that information in hand, we needed to confirm an agency that had fielded and was actively using Veritone Redact. We were provided contact information for the Press Information Officer (PIO) at the Reno (NV) Police Department. The Reno PD PIO confirmed that the Veritone Redact application had indeed been in use and had proven efficient at video redaction in all the ways the company presented. The time savings and accuracy were “as advertised.”
Given all of the above information we award the Veritone Redact software application our “Tested / Field-Rated” Seal of Approval. To learn more visit https://www.veritone.com/applications/redact/
