National Digital Policing – Digital Evidence Transfer Service
DPP Digital Evidence Transfer Service
Customer: National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC)
CLIENT BRIEF
Sarax carried out a Landscape Review for Digital First (which was the forerunner to the Digital Policing Portfolio (DPP) and subsequently incorporated into the Police Digital Service). One of the key outcomes of the Landscape Review report was in relation to storage, handling, and transfer to other agencies of digital evidence. Sarax was able to provide an evidence-based assessment that ongoing investment in disjointed local force solutions would be cost and process inefficient. It was concluded that a national cloud-based solution with common interfaces would enable the maximum benefit to policing to be realised. That approach also meant that the Criminal Justice System (CJS) Common Platform (CP) would require just one interface rather than, potentially, one per police force.
Sarax was subsequently retained to carry out programme delivery and design works relating to the provision of a system for transferring digital evidence between the 43 Home Office police forces and CP.
WHAT WE DID
Sarax services included:
- Outline design of the Digital Evidence Transfer Service (DETS) and development of the costs and benefits to enable the creation of a business case for Home Office funding
- Provision of information to senior police leaders of business impacts, through life costs, and programme durations
- Procurement strategy design assistance
- Pilot scope design for five forces with a mixed level of maturity and readiness
- Engagement with suppliers through Tech UK
- Obtaining Portfolio Design assurance and approval to operate from the Police National Accreditor
- Survey and mapping of ‘as is’ force business processes and the transformational changes required to adopt cloud services
- Market assessment of cloud services, paying particular regard to the security and information assurance requirements of policing evidential data
- Definition of a standards-based approach to implementation
- Engagement with the CPS and HMCTS technical, business and change teams
- Single Sign On integration with the CPS Active Directory
- Developing the service through Alpha and Beta phases to a state ready to handle live case material.
HOW WE DID IT
Sarax carried out an initial works phase to understand the client appetite for both the project itself and the way in which it would be designed, piloted, and procured.
Sarax carried out survey work to understand how the forces chosen for pilot currently operated their physical evidence transfer and the requirements for the cloud-based service.
All of this allowed us to mitigate and control such issues as:
- Contrasting working practices and technical solutions across police forces
- Pre-existing projects and tactical solutions at a local force level
- Delays in receipt of funding approval
- Unclear governance and assurance for national policing programmes
- No formal mandate for the implementation of national policing programme solutions
- No clear procurement path for national policing programmes
- No pre-existing national standards for media management, transfer, or storage.
THE WORKS
From our previously completed landscape review we knew that a national cloud-based solution would enable the maximum benefit to policing to be realised, whilst also ensuring that the digitisation aims of the CJS Common Platform Programme, and its’ consequent efficiencies for all CJS partners, could be achieved. The acceptance of these conclusions necessitated influencing external stakeholders to accept an approach that was not always their first choice of solution.
Sarax have used our subject matter expert engineering team to develop the required solutions and our programme delivery team to control and maintain budget, programme, risks, issues, and dependencies.
In developing the solution Sarax have worked within a multiple partner environment including numerous other contractors, police forces, and CJS agencies.
Sarax worked within a complex and demanding governance and assurance framework to secure support and approvals for the project.
Key beneficiary stakeholders include:
- Home Office
- Security Services and Local Police Forces
- CJS Common Platform Programme
- CPS
TOP 5 BENEFITS
- Approval of the DETS strategic need and business case by the Police Reform & Transformation Board
- Secured Home Office funding approval for the Portfolio
- Developed a technical and business design for securely sharing multimedia with criminal justice partners
- Integration with existing Criminal Justice processes and standards
- Removing the risks and costs associated with using unencrypted physical media to share multimedia.
VALUE ADD
- Developed strong relationships within at multiple levels within key stakeholders to support the project
- Transforming the customer’s requirements into a funded programme
- Engaging with the market to adapt existing COTS products to meet the requirements
- Delivering a design and system that satisfied the Police National Accreditor.