COMPLIANCE / RETENTION
Video Surveillance Retention Policy: What to Define
A video surveillance retention policy should state purpose, retention rationale, deletion behavior, legal hold, access, export, incident handling, and exceptions; storage capacity alone cannot define the policy.
Updated 2026-08-31 · Compliance
- PURPOSE
- Describe why video is collected, which areas are covered, who owns the policy, and who approves a change. Different areas or incident types may require different documented handling.
- CONDITIONS
- State normal overwrite or deletion behavior, export retention, legal-hold handling, full-storage behavior, and the evidence produced when a clip is preserved or deleted. Coordinate with privacy and legal owners for the applicable jurisdiction.
- LIMITS
- This is a planning or editorial guide. It does not replace a site survey, current official source, legal review, or vendor acceptance test.
Write the purpose and owner
Describe why video is collected, which areas are covered, who owns the policy, and who approves a change. Different areas or incident types may require different documented handling.
Make deletion observable
State normal overwrite or deletion behavior, export retention, legal-hold handling, full-storage behavior, and the evidence produced when a clip is preserved or deleted. Coordinate with privacy and legal owners for the applicable jurisdiction.
FIELD CHECKLIST
Record the result, not only the intention
- State purpose, scope, owner, and approved retention rationale.
- Define normal deletion, export, legal hold, and exception handling.
- Limit access to retained video and record the relevant actions.
- Test storage-full and deletion behavior.
- Review the policy after system, legal, or operational changes.
Sources to verify
- ISO/IEC 27001 overview
Use the current official standard page to verify scope, requirements, and publication status.
FAQ / LONG-TAIL QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
What should a video surveillance retention policy include?
Define purpose, scope, retention rationale, owner, access, deletion or overwrite, export handling, legal hold, incident exceptions, storage-full behavior, and review triggers for the applicable jurisdiction.
How long should CCTV footage be kept?
There is no universal period for every organization or jurisdiction. Set the period through a documented purpose, risk, legal or privacy review, operational need, and tested deletion behavior.
How do you verify CCTV deletion?
Test normal overwrite or deletion, exported-copy handling, legal hold, storage-full behavior, and the evidence or log produced when a clip is preserved or removed.