Visionations – Written evidence (FRS0108)
Dedicated to Future-Proofing Criminal Justice and Public Safety Software
Introducing: CrimePad
Foreword and Key Points:
CrimePad, an Evidential & Forensic, Incident & Case Management System, can enable a Virtual UK Police Force centered around evidence collection, data sharing and collaboration, whilst allowing each force to retain their proud identities.
CrimePad will enable groundbreaking realtime collaboration between all teams and forces by putting data at the finger tips of those who need it, when the need it, whether on the move or in the office, and all in real-time.
CrimePad shall rationalise the existing IT Landscape of Policing systems and replace old technologies, hence reducing complexity and cost of IT provision, and will integrate key systems where required to improve data transfer efficencies.
CrimePad shall automate process, workflow and reporting allowing resources to focus on their core functionalities, putting the boots back on the streets where they belong.
CrimePad will transform all aspects of the Criminal Justice System, Policing, Forensics, and Case Management.
Fiona McGann, Commerical Director, CopperTree Forensics.
Paul McGann, Co-Founder & Non Exec Director, Visionations UK.
Non Exec CEO, CopperTree Forensics.
Stephen Murphy MCSFS, Co-Founder & Non Exec Director, Visionations UK.
Head of Business Development, CopperTree Forensics.
Member of the Chartered Society of Forensic Science.
Craig Huldie ACSFS, Cert Ed, CMI, Co-Founder & Non Exec Director, Visionations UK.
Director at Ckhforensics.
Forensics Consultant, CopperTree Forensics.
Ex CSI Manager Northumbria Police, Gwent Police.
Kevin Browne BSc., Co-Founder & Executive Director , Visionations UK.
Information Systems Consultant, CopperTree Forensics.
Professor John Cassella BSc (Hons) PhD PGCE, Department of Criminal Justice & Forensic Science
School of Law, Policing and Forensics, Staffordshire University
A report prepared by the chief scientific advisor to the government in 2015; Forensic Science and beyond, highlighted several challenges for the use of forensics and the need to address the concern that major crimes could go unsolved unless the government does more to support forensic science. This included specific considerations around the interface between digital and physical infrastructure and the challenge to manage and communicate this highly technical information throughout the criminal justice system.
It is within this context that the Select Committee on Science and Technology have decided to launch an inquiry into Forensic Science. The scope of the inquiry will consider four broad areas and will include a specific review of the critical area of Digital Forensics.
It is the determination of Visionations UK that our product CrimePad will effectively address the key considerations around Digital Forensics, Forensic Operations and also Policing within the Criminal Justice System, by providing a full end to end solution and thereby filling the gaps in the current evidence base for evidence detection, recovery, integrity, storage and interpretation.
The following detail outlines some aspects of how CrimePad can support the vision for a modern and complete Evidential & Forensics Management System for all UK Police Forces and how CrimePad is a complete and established Crime Scene Investigation Management System, operating both in the office and live at the scene in real-time.
The current consensus, as substantiated through our meetings with current major UK police forces, is that the Police IT landscape does not function adequately, this is in part due to the implementation of several systems which do not communicate with each other. It is noted that these issues have been highlighted historically in respect of the Soham murders. CrimePad will enable all UK law enforcement and external teams to communicate and collaborate with each other in respect of any Case, Crime Scene and recovery evidence, both physical and digital, in real-time. If supported by the Transforming Forensics 2025 programme it is envisaged that CrimePad will become the single Policing & Crime Scene Investigation Management IT system for all UK Law Enforcement organisations.
CrimePad encompasses the end to end processes from, dispatch of First Responder, full Scene Management and Evidential gathering and documenting, Laboratory Evidence Result Logging to File Preparation, whilst enabling real-time collaboration from the field to the control room or office.
CrimePad incorporates the latest cloud technologies to provide a dedicated, isolated and secure infrastructure. It provides security confidence in a new age of Forensics collection, analysis and remote collaboration in real time with scene evidence sharing between all relevant internal departments and external government organisations and systems.
We aim to revolutionise the way all aspects of forensic examination and recoveries are handled by law enforcement agencies. This will be achieved by rationalising and enhancing the capabilities of IT systems for Policing and Crime Scene investigations in the UK, in order to streamline process, improve data quality, enable live collaboration, and provide seamless & speedy integrations
Waiting hours if not days for updates from Crime Scenes, or examinations of items at specialist departments, will be a thing of the past. In real time, Senior Investigators will be able to see exactly what evidence has been recovered or seized by staff on scene or within specialist labs, thus more appropriately and rapidly steering an investigation or allocating tasks by investigators.
We aim to rationalise and enhance the capabilities of IT systems for Policing and Crime Scene Investigations in the UK, in order to streamline process, improve data quality, enable live collaboration, and provide seamless & speedy integrations.
Our Vision is to revolutionise the future of policing software solutions, by:
‘Serving you, to serve your best’.
4. CrimePad: The Differentiators:
Gone are the days of requiring another front end user interface which layers on top of an existing legacy systems. Legacy systems were built on old hardware and coded in old software on top of old databases which lack the performance and capabilities for a modern and proficient system. It’s time to use CrimePad.
CrimePad is newly developed system, designed and built from the top down to ensure that the core operational requirements are at the fore, and is built on the latest cloud infrastructure and taking advantage of the most modern of security measures.
We believe that CrimePad is the framework that at its core provides the best operational experience for all the Forensic community of teams, and their associated Forces and Partners, from field, to lab, to court.
Whilst it incorporates and harnesses the latest technologies currently available, CrimePad is flexible to develop, adopt and interface with existing systems and can support advancements that shall complement our Forensic teams into the future. Data is centralised yet siloed, enabling real-time access, sharing, collaboration and analysis across Departments, Forces and Government organisations.
Visionations started from the ranks as daily practitioners looking for more. The underlying success factor is the dynamism and combination of the subject matter expertise of our management team, from sector specific experts, to user-led developers and IT, to business management professionals. We have a real passion and ambition to revolutionise Criminal Justice & Public Safety.
CrimePad is currently deployed in over 250 force departments and agencies in the United States, with discussions currently in progress with major UK Police Forces.
5. Case & Crime Scene Management: Functionality & Benefits:
The core functionality of CrimePad focuses on the day to day operational requirements of Crime Scene Management and the Investigating Forensic Teams. CrimePad can immediately benefit and provide operational enhancements to these teams. This shall provide a swift and noticeable return on investment by transforming the existing teams into a more efficient operation with greater productivity and additionally enhancing their operational capabilities around evidence collection, swifter analysis and results sharing with seamless collaboration and quicker decision making of case and scene management staff.
In this section we outline some of the core functional capabilities of CrimePad for crime scene investigation operatives in the field. We focus on the main aspects of the capabilities and advantages of using a Mobile Application, Improvements to Data Gathering, the Ease of Sharing and Collaboration enablement, and Reporting.
Additionally below, we reference data, information & evidence, by which we encompass all types, such as fingerprints, footwear marks, fluid marks and stains, images, recordings, verbal statements, and any other evidential reports and results submitted from labs and departments.
- GPS Tracking of all users
- Automated Dispatch & Resource allocation to a scene
- Access anywhere, even when out of mobile coverage
- Capture all types of evidence, data & information at the scene
- Increased Productivity and Effectiveness
- Scene compliance and process enforcement with ISO17020 SOP access.
- Standardisation of process across the forces
- Data sharing across all forces and teams
- Data Security utilising advanced cloud technologies and security protocols.
- Hands Free voice recording to detail the scene and evidence note taking.
- Image & Video recording of scene and evidence with tracking and auditing.
- Geotagging of captured data
- All data can be shared immediately once gathered and logged into the app.
5.3 Sharing and Collaboration:
- Centralised single location of all scene information & details.
- Real Time data sharing and collaboration.
- Instant access to detailed information by non CSI teams.
- Immediate evidential analysis by labs and other departments.
- Secure live streaming video of scene to base or other personal.
- Ability to link individual cases and crime scenes on a local or national level
- Secure Force to Force collaboration for Level Two criminality and or Terrorist incidents
- Enables Senior Investigators and advisors in an Incident Room to:
CrimePad has an extensive suite of reporting tools available to enhance and streamline report generation in addition to Real Time KPIs visualisations for management at all levels.
- Fully auditable
- Reduction of manual Paperwork
- Updates sent to local forces system with relevant data.
- End of Day / End of Case automated reporting
- Efficiency and Productivity Reporting
- Cost Analysis
- Business Intelligence abilities in real time.
6. Functionality to Forensic Support teams:
CrimePad can extend to all departments and teams by allowing them to add results and data from external systems into the relevant case detail. This enables CrimePad to become the central system to where all evidence and case information is stored, accessed and collaborated on.
We have identified teams (as an initial representation) that can use CrimePad to push results and data into the system, but also to pull data for analysis and collaboration in real time.
- First Responders
- Digital Forensics
- Roads Policing
- CCTV Operations
- Finger Print Bureau
- National Footwear Department
- File Preparation
- Court Presentation
- SFR Reporting
- Telephony Unit
- Major Incident Team.
It’s envisioned that many of these interactions can be automated by utilising system integrations.
7. Enhanced Functionality for Future Technologies:
Through partnerships CrimePad shall on-board new and requested technologies. These partnerships will allow CrimePad to continuously be at the forefront of advances in processes, methodologies, best practices and technologies. CrimePad includes an advanced API to allow for external systems to interface and send data to a case.
We envisage that some of these will include:
- Biometrics
- Artificial Intelligence
- Imaging
CrimePad, an Evidential & Forensic, Incident & Case Management System, can enable a Virtual UK Police Force centered around evidence collection, data sharing and collaboration, whilst allowing each force to retain their proud identities.
CrimePad will enable groundbreaking realtime collaboration between all teams and forces by putting data at the finger tips of those who need it, when the need it, whether on the move or in the office, and all in real-time.
CrimePad shall rationalise the existing IT Landscape of Policing systems and replace old technologies, hence reducing complexity and cost of IT provision, and will integrate key systems where required to improve data transfer efficencies.
CrimePad will automate process, workflow and reporting allowing resources to focus on their core functionalities, putting the boots back on the streets where they belong.
CrimePad shall transform all aspects of the Criminal Justice System, Policing, Forensics, and Case Management.
14 February 2019