The Authentication Conundrum: The Ground is Shifting
Given the proliferation of high-quality AI generated and altered real images, detecting images that lack authenticity is getting more challenging. It was not always this way. Until relatively recently, AI generated imagery involving people as subjects was easily detectable because of obvious body morphology anomalies such as extra limbs, fingers, toes, and improbable...
Forensic Facial Recognition Risk Management Workflow for Law Enforcement under the European AI Act
The use of facial recognition technology is becoming a pervasive method of gaining key biometric information from people, often without their knowledge. One of the many issues with the collection of this sensitive data is regulating what use can be made of it. Building on that issue in the European context, I was...
Video Experts: A ‘Must Have’ or ‘Nice to Have’ at Trial?
An issue that is sometimes raised at trial by counsel or the court is whether the expert testimony of a forensic video analyst is necessary to effectively present video evidence. Counsel may find themselves in the position where if they propose to call an expert, opposing counsel will argue that such expert evidence...
Update: 2026 EURO LEVA Training Symposium (London) postponed to 2027
Registration is now open for the inaugural 2026 EURO LEVA Training Symposium. It will be held at King’s College London on June 9-11, 2026. KCL is an excellent location for this event. It is in central London, very near the Thames River, and is easily accessible once in London. There will be three...
Video Analysis Errors in Murder Trial
A Canadian trial judge convicted the defendant of two counts of murder based on circumstantial evidence and the judge’s own comparison of questioned images of the shooter and known images of the defendant. The Court of Appeal set aside the convictions and substituted them with acquittals due to the trial judge’s flawed analysis...
Crying “Fake News!” Does Not Make It True
It is increasingly common for the prosecution to rely upon image-based evidence in criminal prosecutions. This evidence may take the form of videos derived from CCTV, smartphones, body worn cameras, and in-car cameras, as well as still images. Occasionally, the defence will also tender image-based evidence as part of their case. What happens...
2026 EURO LEVA Training Symposium announced!
LEVA has officially announced the inaugural 2026 EURO LEVA Training Symposium. It will be held at King’s College London on June 9-11, 2026. KCL is an excellent location for this event. It is in central London, very near the Thames River, and is easily accessible once in London. LEVA is committed to making...
Tricks, Lies, and the Administration of Justice
There currently exists almost limitless access to technology that can be used to modify images. No longer the sole province of specialists with high-end computers, the democratization of image modification capabilities means that untrained civilians can create wholly false images and transform real images into something other than a true depiction of reality....
Next Online Courtroom Testimony for Expert Witnesses Course Announced: June 1-3, 2026
The online Courtroom Testimony for Expert Witnesses course has continually been a great success! We have had participants from across Canada and the US, the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia, Germany, and New Zealand. The ability to learn from the instructor and from each other in this dynamic and informative course is unparalleled. The online...
Smartphone Video: Is Failure to Seize the Device Fatal to Admissibility?
Ideally, when witnesses record a video of an event on their smartphone, they would give their device to the police so that the video could be examined and exported in a forensically sound manner. What are the consequences when that does not occur? Are the police required to seize the smartphone that was...