The inventive system and method for enabling interactive collaboration among video surveillance operators is presented. The device has a message including an incident or meta data having a source identifier, a meta data composer, a transport layer, and a display device, such that the message is packaged using the meta data composer and transmitted using the transport layer to the display device. One embodiment facilitates sharing using a common console, and the other facilitates sharing to one or more operators; both embodiments use a common Meta Data messaging mechanism. Meta data refers to any surveillance related data that is worthy of sharing between operators. It includes, but is not necessarily limited to, salvo information, camera, incident related data, video device location details, etc.