For security teams in the field, body-worn cameras have long been used to record incidents for later review. With connected models, the camera can also give the control room a live view while an incident is unfolding and feed the footage into the evidence process afterwards.
Sentiv offers body-worn video as part of its broader digital evidence and accountability offering, connecting field video with communications, control-room systems, and evidence management in a single, managed workflow.
“Body-worn video becomes far more useful when it is part of the way the security operation already works,” says Louis Du Toit, CEO at Sentiv. “The control room may need visibility while an incident is happening, and the organisation still has to manage the recording properly afterwards. Those two parts need to work together.”
A clearer view from the field
The offering covers both standalone recording cameras and connected cameras that stream live video to the control room over mobile networks. Depending on the deployment, location tracking and push-to-talk voice can also join the same communications environment, so the officer, the camera, and the control room operate as one connected team.
For a private security operation, that gives the control room an additional source of information when an officer is handling an incident. A radio call can explain what is happening, while live video from a connected camera can help the operator see the situation and coordinate the response with more context.
The camera also creates a record that can be reviewed later, which is increasingly important where security providers need to account for what happened in the field and how their teams responded. Visible recording also encourages professional conduct on both sides of an interaction, helps protect officers against unfounded complaints, and gives clients confidence in how the service is delivered.
What happens to the footage afterwards
Capturing the video is only part of the process. Once an officer returns from the field, the footage must be transferred, stored, and made available to authorised users without creating additional manual administrative burden.
Docking stations automatically offload audio, video, and images when cameras are returned at the end of a shift, while charging the devices. The footage then moves into a digital evidence management platform, where it can be tagged, searched, played back, and shared under controlled user permissions, with a full audit trail of who accessed each record and when.
Because the process is automated, officers spend less time on administration, supervisors can find the right recording quickly, and the organisation can demonstrate a clear chain of custody when footage is needed for an investigation, an insurance claim, or legal proceedings.
“Security teams need to think about the full life of the footage. Who can access it, how it is stored, and whether someone can find the relevant record quickly when it is needed all affect how useful the body-worn camera will be in practice,” says Du Toit.
Part of the wider security environment
Sentiv already works with private security and other high-accountability operations where communications, patrol activity, alerts, and evidence need to support the same service.
Body-worn video adds another layer to that environment. Sentiv can connect the camera to the communications and digital evidence systems already supporting the customer’s operations, keeping the footage within the existing workflow.
The design can also differ from one customer to another. Live video may be important in one environment. In another, the priority may be reliable recording and better management of footage after a shift. Sentiv designs the solution around how the team works and what the organisation needs from the evidence it captures, rather than around a single device.
For Sentiv, the aim is to make body-worn video useful throughout the incident and in the processes that follow. That means ensuring the footage supports the people managing the response and remains useful after the incident.