The surge of digital evidence from body cameras, surveillance systems, smartphones, and smart-home devices has reshaped the scope of modern policing. Managing, analyzing, and sharing this flood of information through outdated, manual methods strains even the most well-staffed departments.
Digital Evidence Management Software (DEMS) offers a smarter path forward. It centralizes digital evidence into a single, secure platform, allowing agencies of every size to organize case files faster, collaborate more effectively, and ease the burden on overworked officers and prosecutors.
As caseloads continue to grow and technology shifts even further, DEMS stands out as an essential tool for helping law enforcement meet rising demands and deliver timely justice.
The Growing Volume of Digital Evidence
Police agencies today face an overwhelming surge in digital evidence that far exceeds what manual processes can handle. Ninety percent of all digital evidence in police possession was created within the last two years, according to recent research.
Agencies now collect evidence from a wide range of sources, including body-worn cameras, surveillance systems, smartphones, drones, and even doorbell cameras. Managing millions of files each year without a centralized system has created serious delays, contributing to a four-million-case backlog in U.S. courts.
Some agencies have reported making up to 10,000 car trips per week just to pick up video footage for cases. With digital evidence continuing to multiply at an unprecedented rate, the traditional methods of collection, review, and distribution no longer meet the needs of modern investigations.
What Digital Evidence Management Software Does
Digital Evidence Management Software was designed from the ground up to meet this growing challenge head-on. A DEMS platform provides agencies with a centralized, secure location to collect, store, analyze, and share digital evidence.
Instead of investigators logging into multiple disconnected systems or physically transporting discs and drives, a DEMS solution consolidates all case-related evidence into a single, easily accessible portal. Modern systems have shown remarkable results, cutting case resolution times and reducing “time-to-evidence” to mere hours, where agencies previously waited days.
DEMS platforms also eliminate the risk of evidence tampering by logging every user interaction and applying role-based access controls, creating an immutable audit trail that stands up in court.
Streamlining Workloads Across Departments
The manual processes surrounding digital evidence place enormous strain on already overburdened police departments and prosecutors. Investigators often spend hours copying files, driving across town to retrieve footage, or logging into a dozen different platforms just to piece together a case.
Prosecutors, in turn, juggle massive volumes of incoming evidence arriving through countless different methods, such as discs, USB drives, FTP sites, and Dropbox folders. Managing all of these formats wastes time, stretches budgets, and increases the risk of missing or misplaced evidence.
A properly deployed DEMS simplifies evidence collection by crowdsourcing content directly from the public through secure portals. CCTV video, smartphone footage, and doorbell camera recordings can be uploaded directly into digital case folders without an officer needing to leave the office.
Analysis becomes far more efficient as well. Modern systems search across structured and unstructured data sources, automatically identifying and connecting related pieces of evidence. Gone are the days when investigators had to painstakingly comb through endless recordings without assistance; instead, a simple keyword search can retrieve relevant records instantly.
Evidence sharing is another major benefit agencies can enjoy, as DEMS platforms allow investigators to send prosecutors read-only links to digital case files, streamlining disclosure processes and protecting chain of custody.
Prosecutors can then forward access to public defenders and courts without re-copying, re-uploading, or risking data loss. Every action is recorded, providing a clear record of evidence handling at every step.
Meeting the Demands of Modern Justice
Digital evidence has become central to roughly four in five criminal investigations. Despite this reality, many agencies still rely on disjointed manual processes that slow down justice and create avoidable risks.
Did you know that requests for a single 911 call can take two to three weeks to retrieve? Body-worn camera footage may be uploaded, but remains inaccessible for days because investigators must make manual requests to specialized units for access.
Evidence from surveillance cameras often requires officers to physically visit crime scenes, copy files onto CDs, and then struggle with unplayable or incompatible formats. These delays can open the door for suspects to walk free while officers and prosecutors battle paperwork and outdated systems.
Prosecutors face similar challenges. Handling growing volumes of digital evidence with limited staffing leads to duplicated work, missing evidence, and extended backlogs. Without centralized systems, prosecutors must log into multiple interfaces to manage videos, audio files, transcripts, and reports.
Even after evidence is organized, producing discovery packets can involve costly and time-consuming duplication of media. As digital evidence continues to dominate modern courtrooms, the inability to manage it effectively threatens the entire justice process.
DEMS offers a way forward: by streamlining collection, analysis, and sharing, these platforms help law enforcement agencies and prosecutors build stronger cases faster. They remove the friction that delays investigations, reduce the chances of evidence mishandling, and allow justice to move at the speed that communities deserve.
Get Smarter Evidence Management with CPI OpenFox
Managing digital evidence has become one of the most pressing challenges in modern law enforcement. A purpose-built Digital Evidence Management Software platform helps streamline workloads, protect evidence integrity, and keep cases moving forward, meeting the expectations of today’s justice system.
At CPI OpenFox, we understand the challenges criminal justice professionals face because serving this community has been our focus from the start. With decades of experience developing state-of-the-art information-sharing systems, we deliver solutions that help agencies stay connected, informed, and ready to meet new demands.
If managing digital evidence feels overwhelming, let us show you how a better system can help simplify the process. Schedule a consultation through our website, call us directly at 1-(630)-547-3679, email our team at [email protected], or reach out through our online contact form to get started.
