Northumbria Police
Protecting and improving critical frontline processes.
Serving a population of 1.5 million people, Northumbria Police required a secure DAM solution to digitise and protect over 1 million+ individual crime-related items.
The background.
Northumbria Police is one of the largest territorial police forces in England and Wales, serving a population of 1.5 million people across the North East of England. The force manages a significant and growing volume of digital evidence spanning body-worn video, CCTV, crime scene imagery and associated case documentation.
As the volume of digital evidence grew, the absence of a centralised digital asset management system created serious operational, legal and governance risks. Evidence was stored inconsistently, physical delivery of material to courts was slow and resource-intensive, and the force lacked the auditability required to meet its data protection obligations under MOPI and GDPR.
The force needed a trusted, scalable digital infrastructure to protect 1 million++ crime-related items and transform how evidence moved through the criminal justice system.
The challenge.
Four problems driving the need for change.
No centralised control or governance
Digital assets were held across disparate systems with no single authoritative source, creating inconsistency in how evidence was managed and accessed across the force.
No standardised digital fingerprinting
Without consistent hashing and integrity verification, the force could not reliably demonstrate that digital evidence had remained unaltered from point of capture to disclosure.
Data protection, MOPI and GDPR risks
Inconsistent asset storage made it difficult to demonstrate compliance with the Management of Police Information code, the Data Protection Act and GDPR obligations relating to evidential material.
Physical evidence delivery burden
Significant officer time and resource was consumed physically delivering evidence to courts and criminal justice partners, adding delays of up to nine days to the disclosure process.
By giving the force a complete digital overhaul, Aetopia's DAM platform has reduced spend on physical storage consumables by £125,000, improved the quality of criminal case file production by 4.8%, and reduced the time to share evidence with the courts from nine days to zero.
The work, step by step.
Integrated. Governed. Resilient.
Criminal Justice Evidence sharing portal
Built a secure portal enabling the force to share evidence digitally with courts, the CPS and other criminal justice partners, eliminating the need for physical media delivery.
Rigorous disaster recovery plan
Implemented a robust disaster recovery framework to protect the integrity and availability of critical evidential assets, ensuring continuity of operations under all circumstances.
Integration with critical police systems
Connected the DAM with existing force systems, allowing evidence to move seamlessly between operational platforms without duplication or manual intervention.
Live streaming for courts and stakeholders
Enabled secure live streaming of video evidence directly to courts and criminal justice stakeholders, further reducing delay in the prosecution process.
The results.
Aetopia DAM for Law Enforcement
Built for the demands of policing.
Our law enforcement DAM enables police forces to securely organise, store and share all types of digital assets, from body-worn video to CCTV. Built to meet MOPI, GDPR and evidential integrity requirements.