Digital Evidence Sharing Capability – from crime scene to court

I am a Superintendent with Police Scotland currently leading the national Digital Evidence Sharing Capability Project (DESC).  My background is in crime, public protection and partnership work, having performed the role of Senior Investigating Officer in homicide, serious crime and sexual crime investigations.  I have been involved in Police Scotland’s national service improvement work around Visually Recorded Interviews of Children, Child Sexual Exploitation, Sexual Assault Referral Centres and Drugs and Mental Health.  Since November 2023 I have been programme lead for DESC, moving the project from pilot into national rollout.

Kevin McGarvey is an experienced Advisory Systems Engineer with 5 years tenure at Nutanix.  Kevin specialises in building hybrid, multicloud ICT solutions for customers across Scotland and the North of England.

Mike Ashby-Clarke supports policing & the wider criminal justice community, by focusing on strategic initiatives and best practices that enhance operations across Axon’s global customer base. The programmes he and his teams deliver, help to improve transparency and accountability within policing, fostering community trust and collaboration. Mike leads teams of professional services, support, and customer success across EMEA & APAC, to help ensure that Axon’s customers are well-equipped to navigate the complexities of modern policing. Through his leadership, Mike is dedicated to creating a safer, more informed environment for both Policing and the communities they serve. Prior to joining Axon back in 2017, Mike spent 15-years as a serving officer in the Met specialising in both Public Order Command and Counter-Terrorism Search. 

Policing in a digital world. Engaging partners and the public on the technology and data-led transformation of policing

Jo Farrell has overall command and responsibility for the Police Service of Scotland and leads 22,000 officers and staff serving communities across a third of the United Kingdom’s landmass. 

Chief Constable Farrell joined the police as a constable in Cambridge in 1991. In 2002, she joined Northumbria Police, initially as a Chief Inspector, and was promoted to Assistant Chief Constable, with responsibility for response and neighbourhood policing as well as the communications department. 

Chief Constable Farrell joined Durham Constabulary in November 2016 as Deputy Chief Constable before being appointed Chief Constable in June 2019. Chief Constable Farrell chairs the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Digital Data and Technology Co-ordination Committee. 

In October 2023, Chief Constable Farrell entered office at Police Scotland. 

David is the Sales Director for NEC Software and Solution’s (NECSWS) Public Safety business, responsible for all of NECSWS’s solutions into Public Safety including control rooms, records management, forensics, evidence management, covert, biometrics and facial recognition. 

David has worked in the Emergency Services sector for over 25 years and has a passion for control rooms and contact management. Prior to joining NECSWS David previously worked for Siemens and Cable and Wireless where he lead the original Single Non-Emergency Number (now 101) team. 

As Head of Criminal Change lab, Dene leads a team of specialists in the delivery of a progressive change agenda which concentrates on technology and innovation to support the change vision for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals and supporting the overall criminal justice reform strategy.  He supports the transformation of the justice system through effective collaboration and the introduction of new technologies to improve the effectiveness of operations and the service provided to others.  His team ensures that they consider and put all users at the heart of delivery to improve their experience and the service that is received by all. This has resulted in the delivery of evidence by commission suites, remote provision of evidence functionality and the new Dundee Justice hub. 

Alison is a recognised Digital leader in Scotland with a wealth of experience of many ground-breaking digital programmes across the public sector.  She has worked with many organisations across the Justice sector including Disclosure Scotland, Scottish Prison Service, Scottish Courts and Crown Office.  Her experience also includes a 2.5 year secondment as Head of the Digital Transformation Division of the SG Digital Directorate, during which she was involved in the Digital Justice DESC programme.

Alison is a former Chair of ScotlandIS and now works as a digital transformation strategist working with public and private sector to drive digitally enabled change.  

Chris Lawrence is a dedicated Police Sergeant with nearly a decade of service in South Wales Police. As the tactical lead for facial recognition technology and overt CCTV/Livestreaming for the past two years, Chris has been instrumental in enhancing the force’s surveillance and situational awareness capabilities. His expertise extends to implementing cutting-edge solutions like UAV streaming technology, which has significantly improved real-time decision-making and operational efficiency. Prior to his current role, Chris served as the lead police constable for the project for 18 months, demonstrating his commitment to leveraging innovative technologies in policing. His work has been crucial in advancing South Wales Police’s digital capabilities and improving public safety across the region. 

Preparing for the world of this digital tsunami, how do policing agencies really prepare for what’s ahead?

Michael Barsky recently retired from the Toronto Police Service (TPS) after 35 ½ years of service.  Mike retired as the Commander of the Toronto Police Service Specialized Criminal Investigations (Homicide/Hold up/Sex Crimes/Forensics) and the former Business Project Manager for their Body Worn Camera (BWC) Pilot Project.   

During his policing career, Michael worked in areas including Behavioural Assessment,  Sex Crimes, Homicide, and front line policing.    

Now as the Director of Executive Engagements for Axon, Michael looks forward to showcasing the work they accomplished in Toronto related to cost benefit analysis relevant to the use of the technology, the efficiencies created for their investigative and court processes and re-purposing of critical positions to make the TPS more effective and effiecient overall. 

Assistant Chief of Police Armando R. Aguilar is the Miami Police Department’s (MPD) Administration Division Chief, where he oversees approximately 300 sworn and civilian employees.  He has held senior management positions in all divisions of the MPD (Criminal Investigations, Field Operations, Administration, Internal Affairs, and the Office of the Chief of Police). Assistant Chief Aguilar has implemented offender-focused strategies which have contributed to significant reductions in violent crime and significant increases in case clearance rates.  Assistant Chief Aguilar developed the MPD’s facial recognition technology policy, which has been cited as a model by several research organisations and law enforcement agencies for its conscientious approach toward balancing privacy concerns with public safety needs.

Fiona Cameron recently joined Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service as Chief Product Owner for Future Courts and Tribunals and AI. Fiona previously led Justice Transformation in the Scottish Government, supporting criminal justice organisations to deliver collaborative system-level transformation. This included the Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) a ground-breaking £33m programme which is overhauling the way that evidence is managed and shared through the criminal justice system. Fiona began her justice career as a public prosecutor, serving 19 years with Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. 

Digital Footprints of a Killer: The Evolving Landscape of Digital Intelligence and Evidence in a Major Crime Context

Nicola Moffat is Principal Analyst for Specialist Crime Division at Police Scotland and is an accomplished and dynamic analyst manager with a track record leading complex analysis, projects, and intelligence handling for major crime incidents and policing operations. Her 26 years’ experience in law enforcement has seen her deliver analysis in support of counter terrorism operations, serious organised crime, homicide, and public protection. She is also experienced in the independent review of intelligence analysis and the provision of digital forensic analysis as well as the coordination and delivery of evidential analysis for court. As the digital age expands at pace, Nicola is committed to ensuring that new and emerging technologies influence crime investigation and that intelligence analysis is enriched by the digital footprint each of us leave behind.  

A reflection upon the direction that digital evidence a investigative capability is taking as society moves evermore online

Ian is the Professor of Computing at Abertay University in Dundee, Scotland where he leads the Security Research Group and has a particular interest in Digital Forensics. He gained his PhD in Software Engineering from the University of Sunderland in 1998. His work in the fields of mobile and ubiquitous computing led to an interest in cybersecurity and in particular the challenge of improving methods, techniques and tools for digital forensics.  

 A member of the ‘Policing in a Digital World’ Professional Reference Group,  he has provided Expert Witness consultancy in the digital forensics field to various defence solicitors and to Police Scotland.  

He has supervised twenty successful PhDs, external examined six and has recently led the successful bid to attract the £18M cyberQuarter KE project to Abertay. 

Digital Evidence and Forensics. Harnessing modern technology to gather and share digital evidence, conduct investigations and combat online crime

Stephen Waugh is a Detective Sergeant within Police Scotland’s Major Investigation Teams, who have primacy for the investigation of all category A and B homicides nationally.  With 16 years of policing experience and an Intelligence Cell Manager since March 2021, Stephen works closely with Intelligence Analysts and Officers to provide expert council to Senior Investigating Officers in the exploitation of intelligence and digital opportunities. He has worked on some of the most complex, high-profile homicide cases of recent years, exploiting digital evidence to bring offenders to justice. Stephen has a commitment to continually learn and develop innovative techniques to mitigate the threats and explore the opportunities the digital age provides investigators in the context of Major Crime.” 

Using data and research to shed light on child sexual exploitation and abuse globally

Inga is a Research Fellow at Childlight – Global Child Safety Institute, University of Edinburgh. She does research on violence against children with a special focus on child sexual exploitation and abuse. She is passionate about producing data and research that contribute to better policies, practices, and services to help keep children safe and support victim-survivors. Before joining the University of Edinburgh, she worked outside academia for a number of years doing research for public and voluntary sector organisations including the Office for National Statistics, the Scottish Government, the NHS, and many charities across the UK.

Trust and Transformation in Digital Government: Delivering secure and user-centric online services

Keith has extensive experience in senior business and digital executive leadership roles held in government and public sector organisations and in transforming and improving profile public facing services. Keith is responsible for COPFS’ corporate and business service functions, which includes digital and information services. Current digital transformation priorities include maximising the use of data and digital technology to transform the delivery of citizen services and to improve the way the organisation works. Keith completed an MBA (with Project Management) in 2015.

Denis Hamill is Chief Data Officer at Police Scotland, and is responsible for maximising the value of data across Police Scotland, to ensure that data plays its part in improving the safety and wellbeing of people, places and communities in Scotland. He leads the Chief Data Office which encompasses key capabilities such as data governance, data strategy, information assurance, data science and data ethics.  

Denis has led the formation of a new data strategy for Police Scotland which is framing the “Data Drives Digital” programme, which is delivering key data foundations in areas across master data management, analytics and data discovery.  

Prior to joining Police Scotland, Denis has over 25 years’ experience working across multiple industries, including data leadership roles in banking and healthcare insurance.  

Mark, the Chief Solution Architect at Leidos, boasts 29 years of expertise in bridging real-world problems with digital solutions. His unwavering passion lies in Scotland, where he envisions data as the catalyst for perpetual enhancement across various sectors, encompassing education, welfare, agriculture, healthcare, law enforcement, and cultural affairs. Mark also serves as a prominent member of the Digital Twin steering group at TechUK and is actively advocating for government adoption of a ‘Digital Twin First’ strategy across all public services.

Kate Wallace joined Victim Support Scotland as Chief Executive Officer in 2017.

Kate has thirteen years’ experience of high-profile leadership roles in the public and voluntary sectors in both executive and non-executive roles. Prior to VSS, Kate lead Visualise Scotland, a service delivery charity that provides services to people living with disabilities and complex needs from across Scotland. She has previously held the position of UK Programme Director for Barnardo’s and was based between London and Glasgow.

With 16 years of policing experience across two forces, Andy transitioned to Salesforce as an Enterprise Account Executive in December 2021. Now part of Salesforce’s Public Sector Team, he manages accounts for UK police and fire services. Formerly Chief Inspector for Digital and Innovation at Lancashire Constabulary, Andy spearheaded transformative initiatives like Robotics Process Automation, Digital Mobility, and the groundbreaking Contact Management voice analytics platform. Andy is a Special Superintendent in Cheshire’s Special Constabulary and continues his commitment to citizen-centric transformation, enhancing victim and citizen support to build trust and confidence across the Criminal Justice Service.