• Don’t just focus on the documenting the crime, focus also on documenting who committed the crime and how they did it. • Think logically about what you need. • Be creative and have an open mind. • Prioritize quality over quantity. • Once you begin your collection efforts, keep careful records of where and when you gather the materials and protect it from being tampered with by others so that your footage can be verified. • Remember, as long as a plan is put together thoughtfully, there is no right or wrong way to create or implement a Collection Plan. Special Thanks to CIJA for Helping Special thanks to the Commission for International Justice and Accountability for their insights on this section. NEXT STEP CRIME-BASED V. LINKAGE EVIDENCE If the Collection Planning process is helpful to your work, you will want to read “Filming Linkage Evidence”. This is important because to hold someone accountable for a crime, lawyers must prove: • What crime was committed? • Who did it? • How the perpetrator committed the crime? The video footage you collect that documents the crime itself is called “crime-based evidence”. The video footage you collect that documents who did it and how they did it is called “linkage evidence”. Citizens and human rights activists are often skilled at capturing footage of the crime that is being committed but it is much more difficult to document who committed the crime and how they did it. Yet, investigators and lawyers spend the majority of their time working to prove the “Who” and the “How”. So while footage of the commission of crimes is valuable, capturing the “Who” and “How” is important for long-term justice and accountability, especially in situations where there are mass atrocities and systemic human rights violations. As a citizen witness or human rights activists on the ground, you are uniquely placed to gather linkage evidence so learning about this matters. World Intellectual Property Organization: http://www.wipo.int/portal/en/ International Criminal Court: http://bit.ly/1GOAk19 1 2 86 VIDEO AS EVIDENCE: COLLECTION PLAN V 1.0 FILMING ADDITIONAL KEY PRINCIPLES