UK police dangle £75 million to digitize its VHS tape archives
- Reference: 1751963412
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/07/08/uk_police_dangle_75_million/
- Source link:
According to [1]a tender notice published last week, Bluelight Commercial - a not-for-profit buyer that acts on behalf of the emergency services - says the police force requires either in-house technology or outsourced services to convert the arcane magnetic tape format to digital storage.
The notice, which sets out procurement plans, says the framework agreement will help forces with the "conversion of analog media to digital records, including metadata for integration with a digital evidence management system."
[2]
VHS was invented in 1971 and first introduced in 1976. Its huge popularity as a physical format for licensed content and home movies began to wane in the 1990s after the introduction of DVDs.
[3]
[4]
In the first lot of the framework, Bluelight asks for in-house VHS media digitization software, hardware, and training to "enable a Police Force to convert VHS tapes to digital files." This chunk of the arrangement could be worth £50 million ($68 million) for four years, excluding VAT.
The second lot asks for outsourced VHS media digitization "for the provision of conversion services delivered completely by a third party with electronic files being returned securely to the customer force." The output is also set to be ingested by a digital evidence management solution. It could be worth up to £25 million ($34 million) over the same period.
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In addition, Bluelight Commercial is looking for a provider to help with more niche media digitization, including converting microfiche, CD, DVDs to an electronic file format, in an arrangement which could be worth a total of up to £25 million ($34 million).
BlueLight Commercial was established in 2020 by the Home Office to work collaboratively with emergency service members and is the national commercial body for policing. It is publicly funded and operates on a not-for-profit basis as a private company, limited by guarantee.
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The UK public sector has often proved reluctant to give up its pre-computing era technologies. In 2020, the NHS [10]launched a tendering process to replace ageing pager technologies in an effort to modernize hospital communications systems. ®
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[1] https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/036989-2025
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aGzsPErjnRwg106sHRkA2wAAANY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aGzsPErjnRwg106sHRkA2wAAANY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aGzsPErjnRwg106sHRkA2wAAANY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/23/alien_romulus_vhs_release/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/08/twitch_quits_south_korea/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2019/03/04/who-me/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2018/01/09/the_science_fiction_future_is_1980s/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aGzsPErjnRwg106sHRkA2wAAANY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/22/nhsx_replace_pagers/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: “ The UK public sector has often proved reluctant to give up its pre-computing era technologies”
There are quite a few old buildings in major cities around the world that can't have their systems upgraded because the infrastructure for the CCTV system was placed when the building was constructed, and would require gutting the entire structure to replace it. I imagine those ancient systems are still using VHS recording in some capacity out of necessity, since there's also still a factory somewhere in the world that's producing CRT monitors specifically for that application as well.
Police Interview Recordings ?
I can recall UK TV police procedurals that a tape was inserted at the commencement of an interview - I don't know if it was a video or audio tape or even if it was actual practice.
(Back then, in these parts, interrogation involved a copy of the A-K, a wrecking bar and waiting for the train to pass in the tunnel under the station.)
If such tapes were made they would need to be retained I imagine for decades especially if any part was introduced in evidence.
I would guess that such evidence must also maintain the chain of custody. Any reproduction must be an incontestably exact copy of the original.
How much?
I followed the link to the tender, but as far as I can see the tender does not say how much material needs to be digitised. £75 million might be ridiculously large or small (and the same could be said for the timescale).
Am I missing something or is it normal for government tenders to be a pig in a poke?
“ The UK public sector has often proved reluctant to give up its pre-computing era technologies”
I would not be surprised if many private CCTV systems were still using VHS.
I suspect much of the VHS archive is material gathered during an investigation and needs to be archived for n years. This service would thus be protecting the recordings from further degradation and make them more an accessible and thus useful. I suspect only those who have satisfied government and Police vetting need apply.