Investigation into data loss at South Yorkshire Police
The force say around 69 cases could be potentially be affected
An investigation's underway after a "significant and unexplained" reduction in data stored on systems at South Yorkshire Police.
Work's underway to recover data of body worn video footage recorded between July 2020 and May 2023.
The force say it's filmed by officers as they attend an incident or engage with the public and in some cases this can be used in evidence in both criminal and civil cases.
They have now referred themselves to the Information Commissioner's Office and are working with the Crown Prosecution Service.
Assistant Chief Constable Rick Alton said: “I am 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.”