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South Yorkshire Police say that an investigation ha been launched after a “significant and unexplained” reduction in data stored on its IT systems.

Specialists are ‘urgently’ attempting to recover previously archived body worn video (BWV) footage, recorded between July, 2020 and May, 2023.

The force says it is filmed by their officers as they respond to incidents or engage more generally with the community. In some cases, BWV can form vital evidence in both criminal and civil cases.

The force has now referred itself to the Information Commissioner’s Office and are working with victims and the Crown Prosecution Service to assess the impact of the loss.

Assistant Chief Constable Rick Alton (pictured above) says:

“I’m deeply sorry this has occurred and after we became aware of the loss in data, we notified the Information Commissioner’s Office and began work to attempt to recover it.

“We’ve had a team of people working around the clock to manually check each case currently within the criminal justice system.

“We’ve brought in digital forensics specialists to explore how this data loss occurred and to establish if the data can be recovered. We will provide an update concerning this when further work has been undertaken. Whilst we remain hopeful, there are no guarantees, so it’s important the victims and the wider public are informed.”

The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, which provides political oversight of the force, has yet to comment on the issue.

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Page last updated: Wednesday 23rd August, 2023 at 12h05

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Picture credit: SYP

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