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The Metropolitan Police Service is rolling out its new ‘Digital Interview Recording’ (DIR) kits, in its commitment to put victims at the heart of investigations, as part of its New Met for London plan. The equipment eliminates the need to use DVDs and CDs and enables recordings to be made in police stations as well as in locations more convenient to victims of crime.
It’s a significant advance in the Met’s drive to equip officers with innovative technology to improve the efficiency of evidence obtained during interviews with victims, particularly women and girls affected by violence.
By facilitating swift access to professional-quality video and audio recordings, the portable DIR kits aim to enhance investigative outcomes, provide better support to victims, and deliver justice for Londoners. The lightweight kits, easily carried underarm, can be employed to record interviews with suspects, victims or witnesses.
The footage is quickly and confidentially uploaded to a cloud-based system, ensuring immediate accessibility for stakeholders, including the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and senior Met leaders.
This streamlined process eliminates previous delays in accessing vital evidence, enabling faster investigations and helping the Met get offenders off the streets.
The kits, which have recently been distributed to specialist teams in the Met, including the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences and the Child Abuse Investigation Teams, reduce the need for victim-survivors to travel to a Met building to recount what happened.
Victims can provide their account in a more comfortable environment giving police the best chance of capturing better quality evidence to progress an investigation to catch a perpetrator.
Additionally, the DIR portable kits facilitate remote identification parades, allowing victims and witnesses unable to attend in-person to identify suspects.
“The wider rollout of the fixed Digital Interview Recording equipment has so far proved very successful, eliminating the use of DVDs, providing additional functionality and ultimately saving officers and staff valuable time, with their interviews being available instantly.
Commander Stephen Clayman, lead for the roll-out of the Digital Interview Recording kits.
“This represents one of the largest rollouts of this equipment nationally given the scale of the MPS. It has also provided additional opportunities, especially with the provision of portable Digital Interview Recording kits.
“It has helped us to listen and respond to victims’ experiences and use of the equipment has allowed us to capture evidence in an environment which puts the victims first, giving us the relevant and vital evidence we need to catch a perpetrator.”
The kits were launched by the Met’s Digital Data and Technology team in July last year and has been successfully piloted, paving the way for the Met to safeguard victims in way they’ve not been able to before.
Digital Interview Recording is used in the UK and further afield in Belgium, Poland, Luxembourg and America, and there are now approximately 160 deployments of portable kits across the world.
The kit was tested last summer, with several successful outcomes, including a female victim-survivor who had returned home to Poland following an aggravated burglary and sexual assault. The woman conducted an ID parade with Met officers at the British Embassy in Poland, which resulted in the suspect being located back in the UK, charged and remanded.
“We have collaborated with frontline officers and the supplier, Axon, to develop an advanced, secure and comprehensive Portable Interview Kit which represents a transformative approach to interviewing, offering substantial benefits to the Metropolitan Police and enhancing the conduct of victim and witness interviews.
“The kits empower Met interviewing officers to confidently gather high-quality evidence and allows secure transmission from anywhere in the world back to the investigative team for prompt analysis and fast-time action.”
James Higgins, Project Manager with the Met’s Digital Data and Technology team.
The equipment has also been used in a variety of locations including prisons, mental health secure units, hospitals, hotels, schools, care homes and overseas in government or law enforcement buildings.
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