Digital recording technology will change the way police interviews are recorded and stored

(07/09/2009)

Until now, considerable delays have been caused by the time it takes for removable media to be delivered to transcribers who then summarise each Police interview. Indico Systems has unveiled its latest straight-to-server digital recording system, a solution that has been optimised for use within the criminal justice sector.

The new system, known as Indico Streaming Server, has already enjoyed great success in Scandinavia, and is now being implemented at Teesside University, Triangle Services, and offered on a trial basis to selected UK police forces.

When connected to Indico Video (the room-based recording solution) Indico Streaming Server will allow police forces across the UK to stream their audio and/or video interviews onto a secure digital server platform, so that they can be accessed quickly by typists, or by detectives wanting to review and bookmark interviews, regardless of their location. Authorised personnel can even monitor the interview remotely – in real time – and for added time-savings, can also mark the recording with digital "bookmarks", thereby making it easier to find specific parts of an interview.

"At the moment, UK police forces typically record interviews on tapes or CDs or other removable media that then need to be sealed, labelled, sent to a typist, and then stored securely," says Simon Jones, Sales and Marketing Director, Indico Systems UK. "Unfortunately, because of the need to manage, store and sift through such a large amount of data, a serious strain is being put on police resources. Plus, there are inherent security risks involved with sending such important information via an internal postal system, not to mention delays. It can take up to several days for a tape to reach a typist, which can obviously delay court proceedings dramatically. Any subsequent copies can take much longer."

Although some police forces have already moved from analogue to digital technology for the recording of their investigative interviews, Indico Systems takes this model to the next level. In addition to making high-quality digital audio and video recordings that can be stored on digital discs using Indico Video, Indico Streaming Server store digital copies of every police interview on a secure network, which means that there is no risk of CDs or DVDs being lost, damaged or delayed in transit.

With Indico Server, the interview is recorded straight onto the server, which means that these delays and associated costs are eliminated completely.

In 2008, Lancashire Constabulary used similar technology to replace traditional taped interviews with digital recording methods as part of a Government-approved pilot study. Instead of using traditional tapes, interviews were stored on a secure server which legal teams and police were able to access.

“With analogue tape systems proving increasingly unreliable, a move to digital recording - and ultimately a server-based solution – is now widely accepted as the way forwards for UK police forces,” continued Simon Jones, Indico Systems UK. "The Lancashire study concluded that up to three hours were saved per interview by using a server solution to record and store the interviews. If you multiply this figure by up to 40 interviews per day across a force, and then extrapolate those figures across the whole of the UK, you can quickly see how the police, the government, and the taxpayer can save hundreds of thousands of pounds with this approach. Not only that, but less police time wasted also means more time spent on front line crime fighting."

Indico Systems complies with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), an Act of Parliament which provided a legislative framework for the powers of police officers in England and Wales, as well as codes of practice for the exercise of those powers. The Indico Video solution makes sure that current PACE requirements are met in terms of the number of copies created, and the system also makes and retains hard copies of every interview that is recorded.

Indico Video is easy to use, as it features a robust touchscreen interface that supports all aspects of the interview management process: Indico Streaming Server has been specially designed to integrate into existing IT network environments with minimum disruption.

Related topics:  Crime and Fraud Prevention 

Print version | Email to a friend | Related articles

Data breaches: Trends, costs and best practices gives you all the latest information on securing personal and corporate data, key recommendations for immediate action to improve data security, and how to respond to data breaches.

Other Security news and resources