Video Timestamps Aren’t Evidence Until You Check the Clock

Picture yourself on the witness stand. Opposing counsel holds up a still from a security camera and asks one question: “How do you know this time is right?” If your only answer is “That’s what the camera said,” you’ve already lost ground.

Marco Fontani of Amped Software knows how fragile that answer is. In “Timestamps: Not Always Showing the Right Time” (April 6, 2021), he shows timestamps that contradict each other, DVR clocks that drift or quietly reset after a power outage, and time zones nobody bothered to record. His fix is simple and smart: check the recorder’s clock against time.gov when you collect the footage.

One wrong clock is a problem. Three is a story you can’t tell.

Real incidents rarely hand you a single, conveniently accurate camera. Imagine a camera running 40 seconds fast beside an alarm panel running 25 seconds slow. Line them up as recorded, and two events trade places: the person who seemed to arrive after the alarm was actually there first. That isn’t a technical footnote; it can change who appears responsible for what happened.

So we hold every source to the same standard: measure its offset against one reference clock at collection, correct every event, and keep a record of each adjustment. Then, when that question comes, you have an answer you can show, not just say.

That record is what we built TimeScene to keep. For a worked example, see Timeline Analysis Tools for Fire Investigation.