South Yorkshire Police has backlog of hundreds of digital devices waiting to be examined
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Data provided under the Freedom of Information Act in February and March showed that a total of 12,122 devices including computers, tablets and phones were awaiting examination by 32 forces.
Figures published in May last year showed that there were 12,667 devices awaiting analysis by 33 forces.
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Hide AdThose that were able to provide a time estimate for how long it would take to clear the backlog ranged anywhere between three months to more than a year.
Simon Kempton, the technology lead for the Police Federation of England and Wales, said investigators are ‘overwhelmed’ by the amount of digital evidence they must deal with.
“The fact the number of digital devices waiting to be analysed has not budged from last year shows how overwhelmed investigators are with the sheer volume of digital evidence,” he said.
“Forces are struggling to attract new detectives which is resulting in mounting workloads.
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Hide Ad“There is also a need for forces to invest in technology which can help speed up this process by extracting and sorting this data automatically.”
He said that the backlog can lead to problems with disclosure, where key evidence is not passed to defence teams during criminal trials.
“Having the extracted data is one thing, but analysing possibly hundreds of pieces of potential evidence from just one device once you've obtained it is quite another, taking a huge amount of time and skill - so we not only need to bring the number of detectives back up, but we also need to enhance their digital forensics skills.
“The biggest issue with having a backlog of devices is it resulting in disclosure issues, with potentially vital pieces of evidence not making it to court in time.”
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Hide AdThe devices waiting examination are linked to a wide variety of crimes, including possessing indecent images of children, violent crimes, sexual offences, fraud, drug crime, burglary and robbery.
Some will be linked to terrorism investigations, although forces were unable to release information about these.
South Yorkshire Police has been approached for a statement.