PCC invests more than £2m in new digital evidence system

Derbyshire’s police and crime commissioner (PCC) has agreed a five-year £2.2 million contract for a new digital evidence management system (DEMS).

Jul 19, 2022
By Paul Jacques
Angelique Foster

Angelique Foster said it will improve Derbyshire Constabulary’s ability to collect, store and share digital evidence to “speed up investigations”.

The system will enable the sharing of digital evidence with the Crown Prosecution Service on a 24/7 basis, giving greater access to charging and remand decisions outside normal working hours.

It will also make it easier to obtain CCTV from privately owned systems, without the risk of using  a USB or portable media device.

Ms Foster said the contract, expected to commence in September, was awarded to Axon following “a robust procurement process”.

“I fully support this type of investment,” she said.

“Technology is critical to the constabulary’s ability to solve investigations and bring criminals to justice, making it imperative that officers have the latest, most efficient systems available.

“The DEMS will speed up investigations, reduce the amount of officer time involved, enable easier and shared access to files, which ultimately will provide victims with a better service.”

The PCC said like all police forces, Derbyshire Constabulary has experienced a huge growth in the amount of digital evidence it is handling during investigations.

There are well over 20 sources of digital evidence, ranging from 999 call recordings, body-worn video, CCTV footage, crime scene photos and downloads from seized electronic devices, to digital interview recordings.

Ms Foster said the volume of digital data to be accessed during an investigation and the complexity of navigating around the multiple locations where it is stored, is an obstacle for investigators and raises the risk of digital evidence failing to be captured or being missed completely.

Unlike physical evidence, which can be seized, exhibited, stored in a property store and then taken to court to be presented, if necessary, digital evidence is more difficult to deal with, she added.

The DEMS will also link to the Niche records management system to streamline electronic sharing from the case file when digital evidence is identified, seized and uploaded.

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