National roll-out of digital evidence sharing technology

A £33 million Scottish Government initiative for sharing digital evidence from crime scene to court room is being rolled out across Scotland.

Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) allows police officers, prosecutors, defence lawyers, court staff and judges to access a secure, unified system to collect, store, process and manage evidence digitally.

Benefits include fewer victims and witnesses having to attend court, cases coming to court and concluding quicker, and valuable police time being saved.

During a pilot of the programme in Dundee, around 19,500 pieces of evidence were handled through DESC, with almost 550 hours of police officers’ time freed up.

DESC handles evidence including CCTV footage, photographs, and data and other materials from computers and mobile devices. This will be expanded to include documents and recordings of police interviews. The system means members of the public and businesses can submit digital evidence – such as material recorded on mobile phones – more easily by email when sent a link by a police officer. DESC also saves on transport costs and cuts CO2 emissions by reducing the need for physical evidence to be collected in person and stored.

DESC’s expansion across Tayside and Forth Valley marks the start of a phased national roll-out that is expected to be completed by autumn 2025.

You can read more on this on the Scottish Government website here.