Those of you who work with law enforcement agency records, what are you
doing, if anything to ensure that audio and video recordings remain viable?
As records manager for the metropolitan government, I have been asked to
store audio and video recordings for the Police investigative unit. This
includes a variety of media including: audio cassettes, micro cassettes, VHS
tapes, mini-discs, CDs, DVDs etc. These recordings are considered
investigative case files, which are retained for 50 years according to our
retention schedule. I realize that there are problems here including
instability of media as well as hardware and software obsolescence which
will render most of this material useless long before the end of the
retention period. I'm concerned that we'll be wasting space with what will
eventually become essentially empty boxes and also that at some point in
time these recordings may be needed and the information won't be there. It
seems to me that the best way to maintain this information so that it
remains viable for the long term would be to digitize everything that isn't
already in a digital format, store it on a hard drive and migrate the files
as technology changes. Is this the best strategy? If so, the next question
becomes will the Police Dept. be willing to commit the financial resources
necessary to maintain these large audio/video files (the volume of which
will continue to grow as time goes on)? Any suggestions?

 

Roger Hamperian

L.F.U.C.G. Records Center and Archives

Lexington, KY 

 


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