Can I Get A Witness ?
Liar, Liar,…. Pants On Fire….
By Mike Lipshultz
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Can I Get A Witness ? |
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It is hard to go into any business
nowadays with out being captured on their surveillance system.
And with the world the way it is, can you blame a business for wanting to
protect themselves?
But who is going to protect you?...
Protect you? Yes, what if something
was to happen in that business that harmed you and it was the fault of that
business? Do you really think they
would make their surveillance tapes available to you?
Well sad to say that there is no
shortage of business owners, managers, and so on that not only would not make
those tapes available, but will tell you that somehow the recorder did not
record the incident, or the tape was accidentally lost and so on.
And these not so fine folks will also have no problem claiming that what
you claimed happened never happened or give some other excuse that you are wrong
about what happened to you.
What if you are not in a store, but
getting out of your car in a parking lot? And
just as you start to walk away someone hits your car?
You see the car and the driver and get the license number.
But the person that did it claims you got the wrong person?
How do you prove it? It
happened so fast you did not have the chance to turn on your cell phone camera.
Now think about it… Have you ever had
a time when you would have loved to have a recording of a conversation, or a
video of something that happened.
Well if your answer was “yes” !!
Then I agree with you. And that is
why I have been playing around with what I call personal Video Surveillance
Units or Personal Video Recorders.
I bought a few “cheep” units off of
Ebay, and the good folks at Swann (www.swann.com)
sent me one of their PenCam Mini Video Cameras that look just like a nice
writing pen. If you are wondering
about how they work, then see the write up we did on these units.
But in short you get what you pay for.
In the case of the Swann unit versus a
similar looking unit off of Ebay. Well
both looked good. Both took a good
Video. But that is where it ends.
Do yourself a favor and get the name brand unit from Swann.
Now for a really important warning!!!!
You can wind up in jail or getting your Butt sued off for recording
someone without their knowledge! So
before you do it, make sure you know the law in your area or where you will be
using these recorders.
Take this warning seriously. I have been accused of breaking the law using a recorder!
I have been in court with a judge ruling the recording was done legally.
I was OK because I knew the law for where I did the recording. But had I crossed the line… Man I do not want to even think
about that. But I do not regret
making the recordings. Because they
proved me right and the other person wrong.
Gee, maybe that is why the other person was so damned pissed about the
recording being made……
And now back to our story….
Of the different “styles” we played
with, the “Pen” style was the easiest to use.
It looks just like a Pen. Just
clip it in your shirt pocket, or on the side of a purse strap or even just about
any place you would clip a Pen, and you are ready to go.
The others we played with were one that
looked like a extremely tinny camera, one that looked like a lighter, and one
that looked like a car remote. But
in usage you have to place these on a surface or hold and aim them when using
them. Just not as user friendly as
the “Pen” styled one.
As such I ended up using the Swann
“Pen” styled one the most. I
could turn it on with just two pushes of a button, and keep it going for around
90 minutes.
I would turn it on when getting out of
my car and start recording. If
something happened. Bingo.
“But Officer, I do not expect you to take my word over theirs.
I have a recording of it. See
for yourself!”. Or “Well your
Honor, I can prove that I am telling you the way it happened.
If you watch the recording you will see exactly what happened”.
And I can tell you from experience. A recording can make all the difference in the world. So do yourself a favor and get one. Even if you do not need it right now, I can assure you that one day you will feel a lot more comfortable knowing you have it. And you will find “ways” to use it!
So go get yourself that
“Witness” today!
And
Never worry about proving your side of things!
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| Because It's The Right Thing To Do. | ||
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Editor: Tyler Harwood, Mike Lipshultz