18,000 departments, and I did some quick googling to estimate 800,000 state and local law enforcment individuals. More than cost, what preserves the public interest in access legitimacy, integrity, durability, and destruction of information? If private corporations provide such services using proprietary systems, how can anyone base legal arguments on such information given the lack of visibility and assurance in those concerns? If multiple systems are developed to provide said properties how can that be considered economically efficient given the substantial costs in assurance. It would seem as though there are two fundamental currencies in such a system, access and artifacts. Each of those currencies can be managed via a distribute crypto-currency technology (aka bitcoin). The community transaction clearing responsibility would be offered by a consortium of public/non-profit and volunteer "auditors of liberty". The municipal and state agencies are currently (2015) paying $300/yr per officer or 240M/yr. I can see no reason that number does not increase dramatically with services/addons (and greed) as this industry embeds itself more in the critical necessity of the criminal justice system. If half that $ is initially required of the users, and the community of ACLU, American Bar Association, Police Union (a robust system protects both the accused as well as the accuser) as well as other stakeholders contribute; I believe that a trust can be established to well support the development and deployment of such a system. There is an opportunity and a responsibility to provide a critical service to protect the rights and digity of ourselves as individuals and as a community.

Spread the idea and make it happen. Nerds and Geeks to the rescue of society.