South Yorkshire Police has been reprimanded after deleting more than 96,000 pieces of body-worn video evidence linked to 126 criminal cases
An investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found that South Yorkshire Police had failed to put proper technical and organisational safeguards in place to protect the evidence, which had been recorded between July 2022 and May 2023.
The force confirmed that three cases were directly affected, including two assaults on police officers and one case of affray.
According to the ICO, body-worn video footage was usually uploaded to a central hub where all of SYP’s digital evidence could be securely stored and managed. However, following a system upgrade in May 2023, the platform struggled to process the data, and officers began using a local drive as a temporary workaround.
In July 2023, the force discovered that 96,174 original video files had been permanently deleted on 26 July. While the deleted material related to 126 cases, only three were impacted by the loss, the ICO said.
SYP acknowledged that one of the affected cases might have reached a first court hearing if the footage had been available, but without additional independent evidence, progressing to prosecution had already been in doubt.
Deputy Chief Constable Sarah Poolman said: “We do not underestimate the damage any loss of data can do to our communities’ trust and confidence in us.
“Whilst the Information Commissioner’s Office has welcomed the steps taken by us in the immediate aftermath, such as trying to retrieve the footage and informing those affected, we are sorry that any victim of crime faced this challenge whilst going through the criminal justice system.
“We did, of course, work closely with the Crown Prosecution Service to minimise the impact on criminal proceedings and judicial outcomes and, whilst even one is too many, it is believed only three cases were potentially detrimentally affected by the loss of body worn video footage.
“We have already put processes in place to safeguard our data. Of the seven recommendations made by the ICO, all have been implemented.”
Prior to the deletion, 95,033 pieces of BWV footage had been copied to a new system that SYP was implementing but, due to poor record keeping, SYP remain unable to confirm the exact number of files deleted without copies made.
Sally Anne Poole, Head of Investigations said: “This incident highlights the importance of having detailed policies and procedures in place to mitigate against the loss of evidence.
“People rightly have high expectations that our police forces and services, which protect us, also protect the personal information they hold.
“There is a lot to be learned from this incident and I encourage police forces and services and other organisation using this type of technology to check and make improvements where they find potential flaws”.
