Preserved: Evidence made easy - for everyone
Preserved and Policing Insight Evidence made easy - for everyone
Domestic abuse, stalking, workplace harassment, online bullying - it seems like there isn’t a day that goes by when these issues aren’t in the headlines somewhere around the world. Even before the Covid-19 lockdown it seemed that despite the increase in public consciousness around the issues, there didn’t seem to be a let up on the numbers.
In the year ending March 2019, an estimated 2.4 million adults aged 16 to 74 years experienced domestic abuse in the previous year (1.6 million women and 786,000 men).
The police recorded 746,219 domestic abuse-related crimes in the year ending March 2019, an increase of 24% from the previous year.
What some victims may find surprising is that it is still commonplace for people to be encouraged to keep a handwritten diary of incidents and encounters, which simply isn’t as practical - or reliable - as it could be.
Christine Townsend, Founder of Preserved wanted to change this. She created Preserved after hearing too many people say that keeping a handwritten diary of evidence was impractical and upsetting. It was only when a friend explained that going back through evidence of malicious behaviour was too traumatic and she gave up on pursuing the case that she wanted to come up with a solution.
Preserved logs photos, video, emails, text messages, audio transcriptions and more. It can provide vital information that is date and time stamped with location and then shared securely with a Trusted Contact. It is timely that now people can no longer meet face to face with an investigator, they can share vital evidence remotely.
Townsend, an ex-special constable and police communications manager also spoke to police officers and lawyers who said that they found gathering evidence was so time consuming that it really put off a lot of people from reporting and anecdotally, many victims wouldn’t go any further with prosecutions because of what was involved in proving what had happened.
Her experiences of dealing with victims both on duty and through media handling prompted her to design a solution that would first and foremost reduce distress for people reporting harassment, stalking, bullying and domestic abuse in addition to making it less time consuming for investigators.
Taking into consideration the controversy that was caused by the CPS guidance around seizing a victim’s phone when reporting such crimes, Townsend also wanted to make sure that enough evidence was available in the first instance to provide quicker decisions around whether it was a
case that could be investigated further - without the need to seize phones on first contact with the police.
It is sadly predictable that reports of domestic abuse have seen a marked increase since the COVID-19 lockdown, with it being even harder to report and share evidence of abuse and harassment, which is a challenge that Preserved can overcome.
The amount of evidence that now exists on a person’s phone far outweighs any other type of available in these particular types of cases and this is a quicker and more reliable way for victims and investigators alike to have a clearer view of just what’s been going on.
In addition to providing a chronological diary of events, there is also the option to video record a witness impact statement, which can then be transcribed into the protected PDF document, which can be shared with courts. This allows for a more authentic approach to witness impact statements.
Townsend is keen to emphasise that this is not a reporting tool, however; “Having seen many things go wrong when it comes to online crime reporting, I didn’t want to venture into this space. This is the gateway tool to ensure that evidence is being collected in a more efficient and reliable way. If my Pocket Notebook with handwritten notes could be accepted in court as evidence then so can a document that has an audit trail with text, image, location and video.”
The app is provided to police with a unique code that is given to victims with a crime reference number. This then enables the victim to use the app for free. Forces are only charged at cost data rates. With every paid download that is made by a private individual or corporate clients such as law firms, 20% goes back to local charities.
“This is not about expecting victims of crime to pay to collect their own evidence. It’s about reducing the stress and upset associated with long term, chronic cases of abuse whereby the case is so fragile based upon quality of evidence. I’ve seen first hand what this does to people. If there’s something that is likely to dissuade a person from reporting a crime, it’s that they think no one will believe them. I want this to help them to be believed.”
Christine is emphatic about wanting to make a difference with Preserved, “We all know someone who has been bullied, harassed, abused and worse. If this makes it a little easier to get their voices heard, then it can only be a good thing. There are of course challenges around security, ethics and legal requirements, but I’m willing to do all I can to make this work - not just for victims but for the investigators who are already overwhelmed with the amount of cases that come in every day.”
The next stage of development sees the inclusion of a decibel measure for neighbourhood disputes and anti-social behaviour as well as a partnership with video doorbell providers to integrate video into the evidence logs.
There are currently a number of pilots taking place in the UK and North America with police and service providers. If you would like to find out more about getting involved, visit www.preserved.app
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