The Digital Evidence Sharing Capability service (DESC) — a secure and robust system that will for the first time allow prosecutors, court staff, police officers, and defence lawyers to access a unified system to handle evidence digitally — has recently begun being piloted in Dundee.

DESC handles evidence including CCTV footage, photographs, data, and other materials from computers and mobile devices. This will be expanded to include documents and recordings of police interviews.

Digital evidence – such as material recorded on mobile phones — will be more easily submitted by members of the public and businesses. It can be done via email, after being sent a link by a police officer.

Benefits of the system include reducing the impact on victims and witnesses by supporting quicker resolution of cases, as well as reducing the workloads of police officers. Further, it will significantly reduce the need to transport physical evidence, supporting wider carbon reduction efforts.

A nationwide roll out of DESC is planned for later this year.

“This is a significant milestone in our overhaul of how evidence is managed through Scotland’s justice system,” said Justice Secretary Keith Brown on the initiative.

“From crime scene to courtroom, DESC will allow victims and others involved in criminal cases to move on with their lives sooner and free up officers’ time to focus more on frontline policing,” he said. “No other country in the world has invested in a digital evidence solution which serves each part of the criminal justice system equally.”

“The Scottish Government has invested £33 million in this innovative, secure and environmentally sustainable project, which also highlights the successful collaboration of justice partners. Already the pilot – which began in January – is proving extremely successful, with 600 cases handled and a guilty plea in a case involving digital evidence,” said Brown.

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“We welcome the introduction of DESC which is expected to enable fast, secure digital evidence sharing across the criminal justice system,” said Police Scotland Assistant Chief Constable Wendy Middleton.

“Police Scotland is working closely alongside its criminal justice partners to maximise the potential of this technology which aims to improve everyone’s experiences of criminal justice and enable further modernisation in the future,” said Middleton.