POLICE have admitted their system for getting CCTV images to court is delaying justice.
Lawyers - and sometimes judges - have long complained about how long it takes for them to see footage of alleged crimes.
Several trials were postponed this summer as DVDs containing crucial evidence could not be produced in time for them to begin.
Now internal force documents reveal similar concerns within Police Scotland about "weak" processes.
A draft review of CCTV said: "One of the challenges currently facing the Police Service is to deliver the relevant CCTV images to the Procurator Fiscal at the same time as the case is reported.
"Clearly the quicker the Procurator Fiscal has the CCTV images the quicker the defence is fully aware of the weight of evidence against their client, which could result in very early pleas of guilty."
The police and courts services are currently moving to put in place an entirely new IT system, called i6, that it is hoped will gradually but effectively digitise Scottish justice.
However, right now images from CCTV systems around the country are burned on to discs by police forensic teams and delivered by hand to prosecutors, with what the police report said was a "bureaucratic" chain of evidence.
The police report stressed the huge amount of time that could be saved if accused people could see the depth of evidence against them, potentially reducing the number of trials.
It said: "All this would result in a considerable cost saving to the public purse."
As The Herald revealed yesterday, the same report found much of Scotland's public space CCTV - official, monitored systems - was obsolete and that vast investment was needed to bring images up to scratch in much of Scotland. There is major uncertainty over who should foot the bill to do so, with police, council and Government in discussions on the issue.
However, CCTV images used as evidence can come from both public space systems, such as those run by councils, to private cameras put up by anything from corner shop and petrol station owners to major shopping malls and train companies. This too can be of variable quality.
Both prosecutors and defence lawyers want to see this evidence as soon as possible. John Scott QC, the Solicitor Advocate, said: "It is really good for a client to know where he or she stands as quickly as possible so that we can give them the advice they need."
In some cases CCTV evidence has been so late in being brought to fiscals that whole trials have had to be postponed. Police Scotland in July apologised after four cases were put off for months at Perth Sheriff Court. The force at the time publicly blamed "short-term staffing problems".
George Donnelly, vice president of the Dundee Bar Association, said the problem extended beyond the specific issues in Perth this summer. He said: "I can only speak for Dundee but numerous trials have had to be adjourned to ascertain the whereabouts of CCTV evidence."
A spokesman for Police Scotland said: "The purpose of the review was also to identify possible weaknesses within the current system, and ensure that we maintain the integrity of productions, and look for more effective and efficient ways in liaising with and providing information to partner agencies timeously.
"The review also identified the age of the current equipment and the advances that have been made in technology means that an injection of capital funding will be required to update the aging systems."
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