TORONTO: The Ontario government is investing in new technology that will enhance the ability for police services to securely capture, store, manage and share digital evidence.
The Digital Evidence Management (DEM) program will ensure timely access to evidence, reduce delays and enable police to spend more time investigating crimes and keeping communities safe.
“This investment will help drive forward our ongoing efforts to modernize Ontario’s criminal justice system by transforming the way digital evidence is managed by police and justice partners,” said Sylvia Jones, Solicitor General.
“By eliminating the need for sharing and transporting evidence in person, police officers will spend less time carrying out administrative work and more time on what matters most – protecting our communities.”
The new Digital Evidence Management program will provide police services with access to cloud-based technology to allow evidence, once physically handled, to be shared securely amongst justice sector partners.
It will:
• Provide capacity to capture, store, manage and share large audio and video files, including those recorded and shared through by-stander cell phones, 9-1-1 audio, interview room cameras, dash cams and body-worn cameras, as well as photographs
• Enable police services to securely share digital evidence with Crown attorneys and other police services, eliminating the need to transport multimedia files on USBs and DVDs
• Allow a police service to request help from the public, enabling the public to upload evidence directly to the system in relation to an investigation while remaining anonymous. The provincial program will be available to provincial enforcement agencies, such as the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), the Correctional Services Oversight and Investigations (CSOI) unit and municipal and First Nations police services, helping to create a standardized, digitally connected criminal justice system across Ontario.
Axon Public Safety Canada will be responsible for designing and delivering Ontario’s new Digital Evidence Management technology.
“Criminal investigations and prosecutions have grown more complex as technologies have advanced and criminal activities become increasingly sophisticated,” said Doug Downey, Attorney General.
“Creating a more digitally-connected, modernized justice system is a signature project of the Ontario Onwards Action Plan, which aims to make government programs and services more convenient, reliable, and accessible,” said Peter Bethlenfalvy, President of the Treasury Board, Minister of Finance, and Minister Responsible for Digital and Data Transformation.
“Today’s investment in leading-edge, cloud-based Digital Evidence Management technology will enable police services and their justice sector partners, provincewide, to work more collaboratively and share digital evidence more quickly and securely. Harnessing technology and fostering innovation is what Ontario Onwards is all about.”
“The implementation of a provincial Digital Evidence Management program is a great step forward in modernizing the way our police personnel members across Ontario are able to access and share case-related content with one another,” said Police Association of Ontario (PAO) President Bruce Chapman.