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Goodbye to audio cassettes for police interviews
The NPIA has negotiated a new national arrangement with suppliers that will help forces switch from using out dated audio cassettes to digital technology to record and store police interviews. This will speed up the interview recording process and free up police officer time which can be used on the frontline protecting communities.
The Digital Interviewing Framework Arrangement has been signed with three pre-approved suppliers Capita Secure Information Systems Limited (formerly SunGard Public Sector), Damovo UK Limited and Ultra Electronics AudioSoft Ltd, and will allow forces across the UK to buy the latest networked digital technology to modernise their interview process at a reduced cost. It also saves forces having to go through individual, lengthy and costly procurement processes.
Over two million interviews are carried out by the police service each year and around 90 per cent are currently carried out on audio cassettes. In addition, interviews have to be transcribed, copied and delivered to relevant parties involved in a criminal investigation including police and lawyers. The whole process from interview to typed transcript can typically take three weeks. Furthermore, the interviews have to be stored. Some forces can have as many as 750,000 filed away in a storage room and it’s estimated that up to 200,000 tapes are used per force each year all of which need to be sorted and filed away which further takes up police time and space.
Digital recording enables interviews to be recorded straight on to a secure digital network. Once completed the digital file can be encrypted and uploaded to a secure server. Stored recordings and transcriptions can be easily accessed by approved users and sent to the relevant people within minutes.
Other benefits include:
- improving the quality of recordings and their value as evidence
- giving teams in different locations access to live video streaming
- storing interviews on CD/DVD, digital server or secure network reducing the risk of recordings being lost or damaged
- saving storage space
Nick Deyes, Head of Information and Communications Development at the NPIA, said: “This framework arrangement is about using technology to help forces improve efficiency, security and reducing costs. It demonstrates the potential savings and value for money that the NPIA can deliver for the police service in these financially challenging times.
“However, this is not just about saving money. It is also about transforming and improving the way the police service and criminal justice agencies retain and retrieve evidence. Better use of information such as police interviews helps to speed up the criminal justice process and bring offenders to justice quicker.”
The digital interviews project forms part of the Information Systems Improvement Strategy (ISIS), a reform programme for the police service that will use IT as an enabler for business change. This will release savings and deliver operational improvements across policing and into the wider criminal justice system.
