CCTV has been a crucial component of policing for many years. However, getting video footage for investigations has proven to be a laborious and time-consuming process for South Yorkshire Police and many other forces. When CCTV was required for an investigation, an officer would have to physically drive to the crime scene, canvas the area for relevant video footage, copy the video files onto physical media, and bring them back to the station. Upon reaching the station, officers often discovered that the videos were not even playable, requiring additional time for transcoding.
As the investigation progressed, the officer also had to manually log onto multiple systems to collect other essential digital evidence, further slowing down the investigation process. Faced with these digital evidence management challenges, South Yorkshire Police Force launched its Technology Enabled Change initiative to find a solution.
