South-Central Ohio Major Crimes Unit Delivers Justice and Public Safety Faster with Digital Evidence Solution by Revir on AWS GovCloud
Executive Summary
The South-Central Ohio Major Crimes Unit worked with AWS Partner Revir Technologies to quickly deploy Scout, an intelligent digital evidence management system that runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS), to better manage digital evidence with limited resources. Using the solution, the Major Crimes Unit streamlined processes and reduced evidence discovery from weeks to hours while overcoming the challenges of a staffing shortage. Scout runs on AWS GovCloud (US).
Struggling to Manage Digital Evidence
More than 100,000 US citizens died from drug overdoses in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Organizations like the South-Central Ohio Major Crimes Unit are trying to stop this tragedy. The Major Crimes Unit, a collaborative effort between Ohio law enforcement agencies, strives to reduce distribution of unregulated dangerous drugs and violent crime while providing fast access to treatment and recovery programs. The organization includes nine law enforcement agencies, with 12 officers and five other employees, tasked with preventing the illegal drug supply across south-central Ohio.
Like many law enforcement agencies, the Major Crimes Unit struggled to manage growing volumes of digital evidence because it relied on manual processes and siloed file-sharing technology to perform tasks such as file hashing, geo lookups, and metadata extraction. For example, in a major investigation, the agency collected nearly 100,000 video files. “We had three officers spend eight hours a day watching each video at their desks, for six weeks, just to identify 50 videos that could be evidence,” says Dennis Lowe, Commander of the South-Central Ohio Major Crimes Unit. “That was an inefficient use of our resources.”
The Major Crimes Unit also wanted to increase the efficiency of its investigative processes because of staffing shortages. “We’re currently managing more investigations with fewer officers than we had several years ago,” says Lowe.
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Scout on AWS allows us to operate more efficiently and quickly find important information that can make or break a case. We’re losing more than 100,000 people to overdoses in this country every year, so we’re actually helping to save lives by saving time with this platform.
Dennis Lowe
Commander, South-Central Ohio Major Crimes Unit
Finding an Intelligent Digital Evidence Management Solution That Runs on AWS
The Major Crimes Unit reached out to Revir Technologies, an AWS Partner, to help solve its challenges. Revir offers Scout, a next-generation software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution for justice and public safety agencies that runs on AWS and AWS GovCloud (US). Scout is an intelligent digital evidence management system (iDEMS) that automatically scales compute power up and down to match workload demand. It also automates manual tasks such as file hashing, metadata extraction, and cell phone data extraction storage.
Scout is compliant with Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) and Federal Tax Information requirements, and it complies with the FedRAMP High baseline. “Compliance is critical for public safety agencies, and Scout meets those requirements by running on AWS GovCloud (US),” says Marc Messina, founder and chief executive officer of Revir Technologies. In addition, the Scout solution runs in a dedicated AWS account specific to the Major Crimes Unit. “This is critical because the agency manages long-lived evidence, prosecution, and statute of limitations,” Messina says.
Officers and detectives can also use Scout to quickly share case information through an intuitive, browser-based software interface. “Prosecutors, for example, only need a URL to get access to all the data in a case,” says Messina. “It’s an efficient and fast way for agencies and other offices to collaborate.”
Deploying Scout in Less Than an Hour
Working with Revir Technologies, the Major Crimes Unit opened an AWS GovCloud (US) account in one day and then deployed Scout in less than an hour. “We are never stagnant here. Every day, we have more cases to work on, so it was critical that we implemented the solution as quickly as possible,” Lowe says. “Because Scout runs on AWS, we were able to deploy it in under an hour and quickly transition to help remove manual tasks for our investigators.”
Reducing Evidence Discovery from Weeks to Hours
Because Scout automates manual tasks for gathering evidence, the Major Crimes Unit has greatly accelerated discovery. As an example, in a homicide case, Scout analyzed 1,000 file types in 10 minutes and detectives discovered two weapons in seconds by typing keywords into the solution’s search engine. “We are accelerating discovery because of Scout and AWS,” Lowe says. “Previously, it took three officers six weeks to review thousands of video files to look for evidence in a case. With Scout, it only took 10 hours, and we found the same 50 videos.” Now, with more time available, detectives in the Major Crimes Unit can work on more cases and focus on validating and linking clues. “We can solve cases faster because of Scout,” says Lowe.
Overcoming a Staffing Shortage Through Efficiency and Automation
The Major Crimes Unit is more efficient overall because Scout has streamlined and automated processes and eliminated departmental silos. “We operate in a very lean model because of staffing shortages,” Lowe says. “Scout on AWS allows us to operate more efficiently and quickly find important information that can make or break a case. We’re losing more than 100,000 people to overdoses in this country every year, so we’re actually helping to save lives by saving time with this platform.”
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About the South-Central Ohio Major Crimes Unit
The South-Central Ohio Major Crimes Unit is a multi-jurisdictional law enforcement task force that serves the citizens of Fairfield County, Athens County, the City of Logan, and the City of Circleville. Founded in 2001, the Major Crimes Unit has been designated by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy as a HIDTA Task Force and is a member agency of the Ohio Task Force Commanders Association.
AWS Services Used
Benefits
- Streamlines investigative processes
- Reduces evidence discovery from weeks to hours
- Overcomes staffing shortage challenges
About AWS Partner Revir Technologies
Revir Technologies, based in Frisco, Texas, builds next-generation solutions for government that deliver compliance and significant efficiency gains. The company offers Scout, an investigations and digital evidence management system engineered for AWS GovCloud (US).
Published September 2023