NBCC releases standardised witness statement to support retail crime investigations

The National Business Crime Centre (NBCC) has worked with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and police forces to develop a standard witness statement that retailers can use when submitting CCTV evidence to the police using a digital evidence management system (DEMS).

The standardised statement will ensure retailers provide all of the information the police need to process the CCTV as evidence in a criminal case.

Superintendent Patrick Holdaway, lead for the NBCC explains, “Many retailers have the ability to upload CCTV onto DEMS but there was a myriad of different statements being used by police forces.

“Following some workshops with retailers there was a call for a consistent statement format to be used to help retailers and police.

“The challenge was to develop a statement that could be accepted by all police forces. Through identification of best practice, the NBCC has worked with the CPS and police forces to create a standard version, which CPS are happy with.”

As reported in the Retail Crime Action Plan, sharing digital evidence via DEMS provides the quickest, most effective and secure way to share CCTV and images, he added.

The NBCC says expedited delivery of CCTV footage/images will benefit investigations and will support longer-term prevention strategies.

The new witness statement is available as a download on the website and will be accepted by all police forces across England and Wales.