The NJ Police Chief Magazine Volume 23, Number 6 | Page 7

The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | June 2017
Effective Digital Evidence Management – a holistic approach
Every police force recognises the pressing need to manage the dramatic increase in evidential digital
media.
From video interviews, body worn video (BWV), and managed and unmanaged CCTV, to forensic images
and media from the public (including smartphone and dashcam footage) the data management challenge
is here to stay.
Whilst the need for management is clear, the definition of exactly what Digital Evidence Management
(DEM) solutions should include is less well defined. Initial focus is often driven by the adoption of a single
technology option, for example BWV, which often come with their own media management solution.
However, much of the required functionality of a DEM solution lies beyond managing video files - a
relatively small part of the business process for end-to-end management of a huge range of digital
evidence.
If a force fails to ensure the foundations of their DEM solution are complete, they will not deliver the full
business benefit from the investment. More importantly, they will not source a solution capable of
meeting changing business and policing needs in the years ahead.
Sharing our experience
We believe that there is a clear need for enterprise scale DEM solutions, and that forces should set their
sights on such systems, rather than limit their aspirations to integrating the management of just a few
types of evidence.
Enterprise DEM solutions are necessary to manage media ingestion, guarantee evidential integrity,
control access, support downstream sharing with prosecuting agencies and manage the ultimate disposal
of the media.
We have been able to explore this need for a fully-capable DEM solution in recent years, especially
through our work on the development of our EvidenceWorks® product.
Why choose an Enterprise DEM solution?
Improving efficiency
A significant driver for having all of a force’s digital evidence in one place is the potential for quicker,
more efficient investigation processes. With the right solution, officers or other users are able to access -
in one place - all of the evidence related to a crime or other occurrence, whether from the force’s own
sources or recovered from the public. Reducing the time officers spend on what are essentially
administrative tasks makes sense for every force. Freeing officers’ time to perform more valuable tasks
is something that the public and politicians alike would also welcome.
Coping with increases in evidence volume
Another big driver for increasing digital evidence management capacity and capability is the sheer
volume of evidence that will need to be addressed. The amount of data - from BWV and dashcam
footage to CCTV and smartphone-captured video and images - will grow at an ever-faster rate and forces
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