Dana Wilson-Kovacs, Jen Wilcox, Managing Policing Demand for Digital Forensics through Risk Assessment and Prioritization in England and Wales, Polic

Managing Policing Demand for Digital Forensics through Risk Assessment and Prioritization in England and Wales

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2023-01-25 17:00:11

Dana Wilson-Kovacs, Jen Wilcox, Managing Policing Demand for Digital Forensics through Risk Assessment and Prioritization in England and Wales, Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 2022;, paac106, https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paac106

Digital forensic helps to unlock the evidential opportunities presented by digital devices. Ninety per cent of all cases in England and Wales carry a digital element and identifying the devices with the most evidential value is central to dealing effectively and efficiently with the demand for digital forensic (DF) analysis. This article offers an ethnographically informed, empirical analysis of how police requests for in-house DF examinations are organized in 35 forces in England and Wales, and the mechanisms, contexts, and challenges of managing-related internal demand, which have been rarely examined systematically in both policing and DF practitioner literature. The analysis illustrates how an updated understanding of risk and prioritization is needed to address the growing demand for DF analysis. The findings call for updated, systematic approaches that encourage the forecasting of internal policing demand collaboratively and bridge between the operational and the technical sides of investigations.

The fastest growing of all forensics disciplines, digital forensics (DF) helps to unlock the evidential opportunities presented by digital devices. For law enforcement agencies, the demand for DF analysis outstrips capabilities and brings new challenges ( Tully, 2020). Backlogs are common ( Casey et al., 2009; Houck, 2020) and practitioners spend more time ‘in the acquisition and preparation steps of an investigation as opposed to detailed evidence analysis and reporting’ ( de Braekt et al., 2016, p. 68). Keeping up with the pace of technological change, including the growing data storage capacities and diversity of systems, requires costly infrastructural investments and ongoing workforce development that stretch available police resources.