Beyond Law Enforcement: Managing Digital Evidence

Utility is a Business Reporter client.

Digital evidence plays an important role across industries as well as in law enforcement, and managing it is increasingly important for transparency and accountability.

With upwards of 2.5 quintillion bytes of data being generated each day, the need for reliable and efficient data storage and management is more important than ever. This is especially true for policing, where over 80% of the evidence collected is now digital.

As the number of data collection sources continues to grow alongside community calls for increased transparency, law enforcement has encountered a major challenge: how to manage large quantities of digital information, including images, videos, social media posts, formal documents such as witness statements and other forensic evidence such as internet search histories and location records.

The information needs to be stored securely, but it also needs to be accessible, searchable, analyzed and prepared for use as evidence. This process, known as digital evidence management, is critical to the justice system, but it also has many applications in public and industrial safety.

Digital evidence management

Perhaps the most well-known example of digital evidence management (DEM) involves the use of body-worn cameras by police officers. Implemented properly, they provide important protections for the community being policed, as well as auditable video evidence for use in courts.

Advanced DEM systems do not just record video evidence; they also protect police officers. For example, bodycam company Utility’s EOS™ camera records GPS positioning so that an officer’s location can be shared with police colleagues at all times. Real-time communications enable command centers and emergency personnel to view livestreams from bodycams, allowing them to assist officers with decision-making in critical moments.

The system also allows backup to be summoned automatically when, for example, an officer enters the prone or “officer down” position. This feature can not only save officers’ lives, but has also been used to summon medical assistance in other instances of distress, such as when a police officer got down on the ground to administer CPR to a toddler who had stopped breathing.

Utility’s law-enforcement bodycams are paired with the ROCKET® in-car video system, which incorporates 360-degree video recording outside the vehicle, as well as real-time communications and GPS tracking.

For both bodycams and in-car video, smart functionality enables video recording to start automatically in stressful situations, such as when a firearm is drawn, when an officer is jostled or starts in pursuit of a suspect (enabled by accelerometers in the camera that record changes in speed) or even when a car door is opened (enabled by a door sensor). This functionality makes it easier for the officer to focus on the situation, rather than having to think about activating the camera.

Another benefit is that the responsibility for activating cameras is removed from officers, increasing transparency and helping to minimize bias and use-of-force issues. In addition, the footage is automatically uploaded to the cloud so that it is available to others as soon as they need it, preserving an auditable, secure chain of custody should the footage be used in a courtroom. This automation needs to be based on pre-agreed policies where specific defined events, such as entering a geofenced area or a sudden rapid motion, act as triggers. Thoughtful planning is required to get this right.

Digital forensics outside policing

Automated video recording has enormous value in a police setting. But what is its application outside frontline law enforcement? There are several other scenarios where body and vehicle camera systems have proven to be of great value.

Public safety

The most obvious use case is public safety. In a house fire or a traffic collision, the key requirement is a speedy response. Cameras with built-in GPS mean dispatchers know exactly where emergency teams are located, helping to get them where they need to be faster and providing dispatchers with detailed information while teams are on their way to an incident.

Utilities management

Another scenario is in the management of utilities such as gas, water and broadband, where an efficient and safe response is required. Camera systems allow incident controllers to assess the situation and send in the right specialist support teams. Those teams, observed by their managers, can be shown things that may not be obvious or visible to them, providing information that helps them address the problem efficiently and safely.

Transport

Transport is another important use case. GPS tracking, speed records and incident reporting provide transport companies with key information to manage services. Real-time location reporting can be used to inform passengers, or customers of logistics companies, when delays occur. And video monitoring can be used to help keep the traveling public safe.

Prisons

In prisons, automated video technology means that a record can be created of officers’ everyday interactions with inmates. Unusual events can be automatically recorded for later scrutiny, which can be valuable for both legal and management purposes. In addition, automatic live video streaming and recording, such as when people enter and leave secure areas, can be helpful to reduce human error.

Importance of analyzing digital evidence

Once digital information has been collected, it must be analyzed effectively, whether for law enforcement, public safety or business efficiency.

An effective media platform, such as Polaris by Utility, goes beyond providing a convenient method of storing digital content. For example, multiple camera angles or device feeds can be displayed at the same time, giving extra insight to analysts and greater situational awareness to response teams while they handle an incident.

Privacy is another important consideration, especially in a law enforcement context. Polaris provides smart redaction functionality that can automatically redact sensitive information, such as the faces of minors or license plates, enabling footage of incidents to be rapidly released to the public.

Digital platforms help people find and categorize information, and recordings that are related in some way—for instance, captured at the same location or at the same time—can easily be grouped based on predefined conditions. Case management is facilitated with the easy addition of digital files and the ability to relate similar cases.

This is particularly important for criminal cases. For example, Utility’s Helios platform is a digital evidence management system for prosecutors, enabling them to engage with digital evidence effectively by organizing files from multiple sources into one unified view. Because Helios is technology-agnostic, government lawyers can quickly and efficiently upload and automatically ingest data from all agencies relevant to a case, regardless of the evidence management technology provider.

This type of data management technology creates a single platform where lawyers can analyze digital media evidence with tools including media playback, time-stamping, media conversion and collection of different types of files for case management purposes. Digital evidence can easily be prepared for court, with AI-managed video and audio redaction available, as well as transcription and translation tools. This type of system guarantees that all evidence is supported by a secure chain of custody and a complete audit trail of all files.

The future of digital evidence management

Digital technology continues to evolve, providing powerful new opportunities for the DEM industry, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in incident data analysis. For example, images from an incident can be automatically analyzed and relationships with other incidents established.

AI can be used to prioritize the increasing amount of digital information available, enabling law enforcement officers to quickly find the evidence they need. This avoids the danger of low-priority investigations being dropped entirely because of the difficulty of sifting through overwhelming amounts of potential evidence.

Digital technology is evolving to provide cameras with new functionality such as ultra-high-resolution image capture and the ability to measure distances and elevations accurately, and even the ability to record scents.

With these improvements in technology, the efficient management of digital evidence will become ever more important across industry and society.

This article originally appeared in Business Reporter. Image: Courtesy of Utility