Tech will be a theme of the June 2025 edition of Professional Security Magazine, including; what to do about the sheer amount of data, that if sifted can identify offenders irrefutably and lead to guilty pleas that save court time; but the sifting places an unheard-of burden on already pressed investigators.
Home Office security minister Dan Jarvis told the House of Commons on May 6 about an ‘incredibly complex set of investigations’, after arrests of Iranian nationals around Britain, ‘involving hundreds more officers carrying out forensic searches, collecting vital evidence across different sites across the country and securing witness statements, backed up by the continued efforts of our security and intelligence agencies. This is careful, painstaking work.’
The volume of unused material generated in a criminal investigation has grown, ‘exponentially’, noted Jonathan Fisher KC in his Independent Review of Disclosure and Fraud Offences, for the Home Office, in part one, Disclosure in the digital age (more on this link).
The sheer amount of investigating to do was among the themes of the official inspection into the police response to the widespread rioting in midsummer 2024 after the Southport murders.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) reported (more on this link) that the police experienced widespread disorder in summer 2011 and several forces have dealt with serious disorder during the intervening years. “Given this, it is disappointing that the service was poorly prepared and ill-equipped to investigate disorder of the scale seen in 2024,” HMIC wrote.
Visual digital evidence presented some forces with investigative challenges and opportunities, HMIC summed up.
Some forces employed agency staff to supplement their investigation teams, the inspectors found, ‘because not enough investigative resources were identified or made available for deployment to forces’, on a basis of mutual aid (as some forces faced more disorder than others). Agency staff were more readily available than help from other forces. “Other forces were more reluctant to use agency staff because they lacked warranted police powers, such as powers of arrest and detention. And many weren’t accredited investigators, were untrained or had less experience than police investigators.”
Some SIOs (senior investigating officers) told the inspectors that agency staff were effective in supporting longer-term resourcing needs. “But, in some forces, vetting requirements led to substantial delays in recruiting and deploying agency staff to support investigations.” The inspectors reported that at times of national emergency, such as widespread disorder, ‘there should be enough investigative capacity with the right skills and capabilities to support forces that need it the most. Especially during the early critical days and weeks in investigations.’
Forces shouldn’t have to resort to recruiting temporary agency staff, the report summed up.
As for the amount of visual potential evidence to sift through, one SIO told the inspectors that their force disorder investigation team had gathered over 1,300 pieces. Reviewing all that presented, in the words of the inspectors, ‘a considerable challenge’. Another force collected more than 4,800 pieces of visual evidence from two local seats of disorder; meaning about 3,400 hours of digital footage and evidence to review; from public and private CCTV systems and doorbell cameras, rather than mobile phones. Some recordings went on for hours; some evidence was a single photograph. Again, ‘significant challenges’ in terms of resources, equipment and technology.
Yet another SIO stated that their force had gathered over 10,000 hours of CCTV footage linked to disorder in one city; that force, and another, adopted a software tool called BriefCam, which the report described as new, although the firm dates from 2008. The tool meant that five officers could review around 10,000 hours of footage in 21 days; and spoke of a 96 per cent level of accuracy. That same force used the software to identify an offender who wore a face covering to conceal his identity. The software was able to match the suspect to an earlier time during the disorder when he wasn’t covering his face. Hence police were able to arrest and charge the offender.
Similarly, Merseyside Police had to review over 1,300 pieces of visual evidence, gathered through CCTV, body-worn video, online content, and drone and helicopter footage. Software made it possible to review this footage quickly, the report stated. The police need to revise the arrangements for supporting disorder-related investigations between forces, the inspectors said; and police need to define what accredited investigators, statement takers, CCTV reviewers or digital technical specialists they need.
Crimestoppers could have helped forces to identify and publicise details and images of suspects, as it has done for previous incidents of disorder, the inspectors found. Some forces did seek Crimestoppers help; and updated it on the value of the information and how it had led to the arrest of suspects and prosecution of offenders.
For example, in February 2025, Northumbria Police supplied Crimestoppers with pictures of suspects in relation to the disorder. Crimestoppers put these images on its website. Within 24 hours, the public responded and had provided Crimestoppers with 60 reports naming people potentially involved in the disorder.
Photo by Mark Rowe: public space CCTV outside Scotland Yard, Embankment.
