Quick Review: Panasonic HC-V250 Camcorder

Hello again, Dear Reader. I just thought I would post a quick review of a piece of kit I recently purchased since I've had a few days to play around with various settings and get to grips with functionality etc.

Basically, a job came up where video footage is sought as evidence and, believe it or not, this really is the first time I've actually needed a video camera during surveillance.

Which is a little embarrassing because I didn't have one.

True story!

However, I did some quick internet research as to what was available at the usual large retailers and settled on the Panasonic HC-V250.

And?

The Quest for the Perfect Evidentiary Notebook

Well, I may have finally found what had been previously eluding me: the perfect (or at least near enough) evidentiary notebook for investigatory purposes.

Really, it doesn't take much to fit the bill, yet it is still difficult enough to find a brand of notebook that has all of the required features:

1. Individually-numbered pages
2. Pages sewn into binding
3. Printed date/time/keyword column

And, naturally, I have a preference for the reporter-style layout. Well, I may be able to cease my search as I have recently found the Triform Private Security Evidence Notebook from Canadian publisher, Carswell. 

The notebooks have a cardboard cover but you can purchase more robust outer cases in leather, vinyl or cordura.

Check out the Triform page with the various notebooks and accessories. And, yes, they do ship internationally (just don't use their online ordering though as the signup expects you to be in a Canadian state).

I've placed an order and will post a review as soon as I am in receipt.   

Fist fights and death threats

Well, I guess it had to happen one day, Dear Reader. Finally I had a job go slightly pear-shaped, with a wee bit of fisticuffs and some threats of a stabbing.

Actually, it was far less exciting than it sounds and more of a tragi-comic farce being played out.

And it ended fairly much as you would expect.

It went like this...

App Review: Zello PTT App

Recently I became aware of a nifty-sounding application for most phones that essentially turned them into the equivalent of push-to-talk (PTT) radios.

Now, while I have a couple of Motorola MTP-850s the limitation is that I very literally only have a couple: ie TWO. Sometimes, albeit rarely, I work with more than one other investigator and conducting a last-minute, unplanned, three vehicle mobile surveillance operation with only cellphone communications is just asking for trouble.

Which, incidentally, is exactly what happened but that's a story for another time.  

Enter the (mostly) free-to-use app Zello.