- Published
- September 2026
- Length
- 7 pages
- Written for
- Owners, operations managers and anyone who would be asked to produce footage after an incident.
The real test of a CCTV system is not whether pictures appear on a monitor. It is whether the business can find the correct incident, understand what the images show, export the relevant material promptly and explain how the file was handled. Recording is only the first step.
What the report covers
- Why a recording can exist without becoming evidence
- Image quality and what the camera can actually resolve
- Clocks, timestamps and camera identity
- Retention: how long before it is overwritten
- Export formats an ordinary recipient can open
- Access control and the handling record
- A short monthly evidence readiness test
Key points
- Five questions management should be able to answer: can we retrieve a known event without calling the installer; can an ordinary authorised recipient open the exported file; are the date, time and camera identity reliable; can we show who exported, copied, viewed and handed over the footage; and is our retention and access practice justified, documented and POPIA-aware.
- Businesses discover too late that the camera was aimed correctly but recorded too little detail, that the recorder clock was wrong, or that the footage had already been overwritten.
- Exported files that play only in unfamiliar proprietary software are a common and avoidable failure.
- The test does not promise that footage will be accepted or given decisive weight in a legal process. It preserves reliability, context and a clear record of what happened to the file.
Read the full report
The complete report, with the checklists and the decision record, is free to download.