IOPC confronts ever-evolving demands of digital evidence management

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has been searching for a new Digital Evidence Management System (DEMS) and recently concluded that search with the selection of the NICE Investigate solution following a robust procurement process.

The IOPC exists to oversee the police complaints system in England and Wales. The organisation investigates the most serious matters, including deaths following police contact, and ultimately sets the standards by which the police service should handle complaints. Learning derived from its work is used to influence changes in policing.

The IOPC is an independent body and, as such, makes its decisions entirely independently of the police service and central Government.

An important aspect of the work of the IOPC is to make it as easy as possible for involved parties, specifically police forces, to share information and evidence with case investigators as quickly and efficiently as possible. To this end, the IOPC had been looking for better ways in which to handle the ever-evolving and increasing demands of digital evidence management, with COVID-19 and remote working only serving to accelerate that search.

Keith Tagg, the IOPC’s delivery manager, explained to Security Matters: “When we start an investigation, digital material and evidence needs to be transferred to the IOPC by police forces. In the past, we’ve relied on disks, USBs or delivery by hand. By introducing a DEMS, we knew that we could make it easier and quicker to share information with police forces or other bodies. Not only would the process take less time, but it would also be more secure and, what’s more, of a high evidential standard.”

NICE Investigate

The IOPC spoke to a number of police forces and bodies to inform its decisions and the procurement procedure. NICE Investigate was selected to provide the DEMS in the wake of what’s described as a “robust” procurement process.

One of the factors which led to the IOPC choosing NICE Investigate was the feedback from police forces, in addition to the system’s ability to play back different formats of CCTV footage.

On that point, Keith Tagg explained: “Not being able to watch CCTV footage because it isn’t in a playable format is a problem shared by police forces and the IOPC. It can prolong and impede the progress of our investigations and introduce frustration at the point when a quick decision is needed for a referral or appeal. This issue was exacerbated still further during the pandemic when investigators working from home would need to travel to the office to watch the footage or otherwise request that the footage be uploaded to the network. With DEMS, any CCTV footage is automatically transcoded, so an investigator can instantly play it back with no delay.”

Less physical material

The introduction of DEMS has also meant that the IOPC is now handling less physical material, which woud take significant storage space and is less secure.

“DEMS means that we have consistent control of content,” asserted Tagg. “It’s more secure and we have a detailed audit trail. The assets don’t deteriorate over time and they can be retained and accessed a lot more easily. Most importantly, the assets are preserved to a high evidential standard.”

According to Tagg, the feedback so far suggests that police forces like DEMS. “Moving to more electronic sharing is a shared commitment across the whole criminal justice sector and so far this has been a positive experience.”

The next step is to share material via DEMS with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). “There’s a shared commitment across the criminal justice sector to move towards online management,” concluded Tagg. “Working with the CPS, DEMS means that we can share a link to information residing on our system rather than actual files or physical material. This is more efficient, more secure and also removes a major pain point from the disclosure process. We’re looking forward to making ongoing improvements,”

*Additional information on the work of the IOPC is available online at www.policeconduct.gov.uk

Reports of evidence loss on supposed eve of digital evidence mandate

Is it a coincidence that the revelations of evidence loss have hit the headlines as we approach the deadline of the Home Office mandate for digital evidence compliance, which comes into effect at the end of April? writes Jamie Wilson.

Given that, since the mandate was announced, there has been very little publicity surrounding the ‘stick’ approach towards driving forces to implement digital evidence management strategies, I suspect that it is indeed a coincidence.

The BBC has revealed the findings of a joint Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary report which says that there was a “widespread issue” involving the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) “misplacing discs containing sensitive evidence and information”.

For members of the public reading such an article it is sure to shock, but for those working in police forces right across England and Wales it may not be such a huge surprise.

Jamie Wilson

Discs are essentially physical pieces of evidence that need to be manually logged, booked-in, stored and retrieved, etc. With so many discs in circulation and physical storage space being limited, it’s perhaps not unexpected that on occasion they can be misplaced.

In 2014, the then policing and criminal justice minister Damian Green announced that by the end of April this year, all forces in England and Wales must be capable of sharing evidence digitally with the CPS and the courts.

One of the anticipated outcomes that this initiative would lead to was a significant drop in the use of discs as forces move towards lower cost, more secure and faster digital methods of capturing, securely storing and sharing evidence – recordings from Command and Control, body-worn camera feeds, videos and photos, etc.

What I’ve seen in the past 12 months from forces I’ve visited, or spoken with, has been hugely positive. There’s undoubtedly a concerted effort being made by senior officers to push forward the digital evidence agenda.

They’re being driven not just by a mandated obligation (if indeed this remains the case?), but a recognition of the operational rewards it can bring in closing cases quicker and making far better use of scant resources, enabling officers to do what they’re trained to do rather than creating, curating and couriering discs.

Jamie Wilson is Public Safety Marketing Manager (EMEA) at NICE Systems

Mitie unveils online crime reporting partnership with Facewatch

FTSE 250 strategic outsourcing company Mitie has announced a strategic partnership with Facewatch, the online crime reporting and networking service.

Facewatch is a secure, cloud-based platform that enables business users, the public and the police to report low-level crime with CCTV evidence and to share offender images and intelligence with other businesses within secure groups.

Facewatch provides tools to develop intelligence about specific individuals and affords advanced statistics enabling businesses and the police service to drive down crime.

The Facewatch system holds the police approved Secured by Design accreditation and is fully accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) as a means of accessing digital case files within UK Courts of Law. Facewatch is accessible from any Internet-connected device.

Mitie has forged an online crime reporting partnership with Facewatch

This new partnership will see Mitie take control of the entire crime reporting process on behalf of its customers.

Using Mitec, Mitie’s hi-tech security hub, analysts will be able to review CCTV footage, prepare incident reports and develop evidential packs in line with police service and CPS guidelines so these can be used to support prosecutions.

Crime reporting and threat analysis

Darren Gamage, managing director of technology services at Mitie’s Total Security Management business, said: “Working with Facewatch gives us an exciting opportunity to enhance our crime reporting and threat analysis service for our customers. Our analysts in Mitec will work with the various police forces in efficient crime reporting, allowing us to better manage risk and document incidents.”

Gamage added: “We will also be able to share data across our clients’ estates where we’re already monitoring their systems or providing a physical security presence.”

Simon Gordon, chairman of Facewatch, commented: “We’re delighted to be working with Mitie on this launch. Delivering an instant and secure reporting solution to offences such as shoplifting, personal theft and vandalism is key to our partnership. We are focused on improving the quality of crime reports sent to the police from businesses, assisting in developing police efficiencies and reducing crime.”

The Facewatch system now contains around 18,000 images and logs over 8,000 business premises. The concept was kick-started back in March 2010.

2013-2014 figures show rise in reported physical assaults against NHS staff

NHS Protect has released the 2013-2014 figures for reported physical assaults against NHS staff in England. The figures have been collated from 266 health bodies across the country.

The number of criminal sanctions following reported assaults has risen by 191, from 1,458 to 1,649 – an increase of 13.1%. Overall, there was a rise of 8.7% in total reported assaults from 63,199 in 2012-2013 to 68,683 in 2013-2014. A full breakdown of the results is available at: http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/Documents/SecurityManagement/Reported_Physical_Assaults_2013-14.pdf

Richard Hampton, head of external engagement and services at NHS Protect, commented: “No member of NHS staff should be physically assaulted, and we encourage staff who are victims of violence to press charges against their assailants. Those who work in the NHS have the right to provide care in a safe environment. Employers must do all they can to support staff in preventing incidents and pursuing offenders.”

Advice for health bodies

NHS Protect is urging health bodies to:

• Note that NHS Protect’s guidelines entitled: ‘Meeting Needs and Reducing Distress – Guidance on the Prevention and Management of Clinically-Related Challenging Behaviour in NHS Settings’ was launched in December 2013 and provides NHS staff with the tools to de-escalate and reduce challenging behaviour within the NHS

• Take advantage of the joint working agreement with the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Crown Prosecution Service and use existing guidance to pursue local arrangements building on this national agreement in order to ensure criminal assaults are identified and do not go unpunished

• Seek advice from the network of NHS Protect’s Area Security Management Specialists. They give guidance to Local Security Management Specialists and assist in assessing risks of violence, addressing these through prevention work and pursuing legal action when assaults do occur

• Ensure staff are trained to use available powers to respond decisively to low-level nuisance behaviour before it escalates into violence against staff (these powers are available under the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008)

• Be aware that NHS Protect has been included in the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 in order to provide new tools for dealing with persistent anti-social behaviour within the NHS

Overall, there was a rise of 8.7% in total reported assaults on staff working in the NHS, from 63,199 incidents during 2012-2013 to 68,683 in 2013-2014

Cheshire and Merseyside deal signed to protect NHS staff

A new agreement to help protect nurses, doctors, ambulance crews and other NHS staff from assault and abuse in Cheshire and Merseyside has been signed.

The Service Level Agreement between the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Mersey-Cheshire and NHS Protect commits both bodies to working closely together to ensure that people who attack NHS staff are prosecuted wherever appropriate. This helps implement the national joint working agreement between the Association of Chief Police Officers, the CPS and NHS Protect.

The Mersey-Cheshire Service Level Agreement aims to strengthen the prosecution process, recognising that there’s a strong public interest in prosecuting those who assault NHS staff or commit other offences that disrupt the provision of NHS services to the public.

John Mytton, North West Area Security Management Specialist for NHS Protect, said: “CPS Mersey-Cheshire and NHS Protect have worked hard to reach this point, with both of the CPS regions in the North West now covered by this agreement. We will continue to support health bodies to ensure that all incidents of violence and aggression against staff are addressed and appropriate sanctions brought forward wherever possible. This will improve the confidence and well-being of those who work in the NHS and their patients.”

Claire Lindley, Chief Crown Prosecutor for Mersey-Cheshire Crown Prosecution Service, added: “No NHS worker should have to do their job in fear of being assaulted. Some staff may feel that these assaults are part and parcel of their work and that they simply have to put up with them. This is not the case. We also know that some NHS staff mistakenly believe that nothing will be done if they report assaults. This is also not the case.”

Lindley continued: “This agreement shows the commitment of the NHS and the Crown Prosecution Service to making sure that the people who commit these assaults are brought to justice. We hope it gives people the confidence to report incidents and that offenders get the message – you will be caught and made to face the consequences.”

CPS Report: ‘Conviction rate for hate crime now at an all-time high’

According to the Seventh Edition of the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) Hate Crimes and Crimes against Older People Report, published this morning, almost 85% of hate crime prosecutions now result in a conviction. As the number of cases referred to the CPS has also increased, so too has the proportion which are taken forward to court, in turn indicating that stronger cases are being prepared (almost 80% of hate crime referrals from the police result in a decision to prosecute).

Hate crime references any criminal offence committed against a person or property that’s motivated by hostility towards someone based on their disability, race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality or national origins, religion, gender (or gender identity), age or sexual orientation.

A new CPS Action Plan has also been published today. Its contents are aimed firmly at building on these improvements and focusing on the handling of disability hate crime cases where conviction rates have also increased but numbers of prosecutions haven’t risen as expected.

Alison Saunders: the Director of Public Prosecutions

The proportion of successful outcomes of disability hate crime cases for 2013-2014 increased from 77.2% to 81.9%. However, the number of convictions fell slightly over the year from 494 to 470. Addressing this issue – and focusing on the CPS’ handling of these difficult cases – underpins the publication of the new Action Plan.

Identifying and recording elements of disability hate crime

The Action Plan includes a commitment to improve how the CPS identifies and records elements of disability hate crime, assures that cases are identified and prosecuted correctly and provides prosecutors with new tools for the job. The document recognises that disability hate crime exhibits unique features including violence and verbal abuse, but also more insidious or exploitative types of offending.

Alison Saunders, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), commented: “It’s very reassuring to see that the hard work and effort we have undertaken to improve our performance on hate crime has seen such positive results. Not only has the volume of cases referred by the police increased on a general level, but the ‘decision to prosecute’ and conviction rates have also risen.”

Saunders continued: “Of course, I recognise that there’s more work to be done, most notably around disability hate crime. While I’m delighted to see a record high conviction rate and that the rate of cases we are charging is up to 80% from 72.4% last year, we will be working with the police service to encourage more disability hate crime cases to be referred to us and will really focus our attentions on the handling of these cases through the court system. I’m doing this through our new Disability Hate Crime Action Plan, which addresses where we must improve our handling of disability hate crime cases.”

In conclusion, the DPP explained: “Hate crimes can be particularly devastating to victims who have been targeted simply because of their race, their religion, their sexuality, gender, disability or age. These crimes display an ugly element of our society and one which it’s very important both the police service and prosecutors alike feel empowered to tackle such that they can bring offenders to justice.”

Further information included in the report

*The number of hate crime convictions increased from 10,794 to 11,915
*The hate crime conviction rate also increased from 82.6% to 84.7% (this conviction rate has been on an upward trend over the past six years)
*Of the 11,818 racially aggravated cases prosecuted last year, 85.2% resulted in convictions and 75.9% of all convictions involved guilty pleas
*In 2013-2014, 550 cases involving religiously aggravated hostility were prosecuted and 84.2% resulted in a conviction
*The proportion of homophobic and transphobic hate crime cases resulting in a guilty plea increased from 71.6% to 72.3% against a backdrop of an increase in the number of guilty pleas over the year from 785 to a total of 819
*There was an increase in the rate of decisions to charge for disability hate crime from 72.4% to 80%
*Since 2008-2009, the number of prosecutions for crimes against older people steadily increased from 1,004 to 2,922

Key actions in the Disability Hate Crime Action Plan

Disability hate crime can be more difficult to identify than other forms of hate crime as it often comes in the form of exploitation or crimes committed by those pretending to befriend the victim. The CPS has introduced – and is introducing – more training and guidance for prosecutors to ensure this incorporates the full range of offending.

The CPS wishes to improve the experience of victims of disability hate crime. On that basis, the CPS has been conducting detailed research to ensure that victims’ experiences are improved and that prosecutors have all the resources they need at their disposal in order to recognise – and prosecute – cases of disability hate crime.

Director of Public Prosecutions launches support package for crime victims

Alison Saunders – the Director of Public Prosecutions – has launched a wide-ranging support package for the victims of crime. Dedicated units of trained staff are now up-and-running across England and Wales. In addition, the final Victims’ Right to Review scheme is being published alongside almost a year’s worth of statistics from the interim scheme launched in June 2013.

“There has been a lot of focus on the victims of sexual offences in recent months,” commented Saunders, “but all crimes – from burglary and muggings through to harassment and fraud – serve to undermine confidence, create fear and damage the fabric of our society. My focus is on improving our service to anyone who has suffered at the hands of criminals.”

More than 70 Victim Liaison Officers (VLOs) will staff units across England and Wales, with around 80 completing training alongside experts from the Victim Support charity in handling the specific needs of crime victims. Members of staff have also been provided with disability awareness training by the Business Disability Forum.

Victim Liaison Units were piloted in three CPS Areas from March 2014 with feedback from victims on the amount of information they wanted to receive on their cases. The CPS will now always offer a meeting to victims and their families when it stops or changes the charges in cases involving the following offence types: homicide cases, sexual offences, child abuse cases, offences aggravated by hostility based on disability, racially/religiously aggravated offences, cases with a homophobic, transphobic or sexual orientation element and offences motivated by hostility based on age.

Alison Saunders: the Director of Public Prosecutions

Alison Saunders continued: “On my first day as the Director of Public Prosecutions, I spoke of my intention to set up Victim Liaison Units across the CPS. I’m really pleased to announce this roll-out after a successful pilot. These specialist members of staff are receiving bespoke training from one of the charities that know victims best – the charity Victim Support, whose professionalism I witnessed when I visited its centre last year. I hope people will see this collaboration as a sign of a modern and responsive prosecution service.”

The Victims’ Right to Review Scheme

As stated earlier, the Victims’ Right to Review (VRR) Scheme was first launched in June 2013, and details of the final scheme have now been published on the CPS website. Between 5 June 2013 and 31 March 2014, the CPS reviewed 1,186 cases and decisions in 1,024 of those cases were found to be the right one.

In total, 162 decisions have been overturned (which accounts for 0.14% of all qualifying decisions finalised in the period). A breakdown of the reviews by offence category has also been published on the CPS website.

The DPP has now committed to ensuring that CPS policy and guidance will be updated wherever necessary due to any issues identified through the VRR process.

Alison Saunders stated: “It’s hard to think of a scheme that gives more power to victims than the Victims’ Right to Review. Having the right to challenge our work and hold us to account is fundamental to instilling greater confidence among victims. We made 113,952 qualifying decisions during the period covered by these latest figures, and so less than 0.14% of those decisions have been overturned. This should be seen as a sign of confidence in our decision-making and also our ability to act swiftly where mistakes may have been made.”

The CPS is also publishing Complaints and Community Engagement Standards for all members of staff. The document sets out clear benchmarks of quality by which the CPS’ performance on handling complaints and engaging with the wider community can be measured by victims and the wider public. The standards will be subject to a public consultation.

“The work we are setting out here,” concluded Saunders, “is a major step forward in addressing the balance of power towards the victim within criminal justice. Empowering and supporting the victims of crime is an absolute priority for me as Director of Public Prosecutions, and was the very reason I became a prosecutor more than 25 years ago. The right to review and specialist Victim Liaison Officers will make a very real and tangible difference to those whom we serve.”

Public confidence – the critical factor

The Rt Hon Jeremy Wright MP – the newly-installed Attorney General – said: “Public confidence in the criminal justice system is the critical factor in helping victims of crime to come forward. Victims need to know that they will be listened to, taken seriously and supported so that justice can be done. That’s why the package of measures that the Director of Public Prosecutions has announced is so significant. It’s a clear statement that the prosecution will put victims first, and will make a real difference to the way in which individuals are supported through the justice process.”

Victims’ Commissioner Baroness Newlove, who has also welcomed the announcement, said: “Victims need to be listened to and have open and honest conversations about what is happening to them. I welcome the efforts of the CPS to do this in a compassionate, clear and timely way. The right to review is a crucial and essential tool for those who want to challenge a court decision and hold the CPS to account, which is why it’s so important to get it right. I will be looking very closely at how both are being delivered to ensure they are in compliance with the Victims’ Code and are delivered at a standard that victims deserve.”