1. Research findings from the East Midlands Digital Evidence Survey
East Midlands Policing Academic Collaboration
Research findings from the East Midlands Digital Evidence Survey

2. Aims of the survey
To gain a more sophisticated insight into the ways in which digital materials are understood, handled and used
To better understand the differences in ways of working with digital evidence across the five police forces in the East Midlands
To identify areas where additional training and development is required to fill knowledge and competence gaps

3. Confidence dealing with digital evidence
Approximately 80% deal with digital evidence regularly
Key areas of focus:
Computers – 64% daily/weekly use
Mobile phones – 61% daily/weekly use
Body Worn Video - 46% daily/weekly use

4. Training needs
Those who have received training: approximately 85% found it useful Percentage who had not received training: Downloading CCTV – 89% Seizing CCTV – 67% Open Source – 77% Communications data – 72% Seizing digital exhibits – 61% Body worn video – 57%

5. The Specialists
74% knew who could provide support with digital exhibits
Key issues identified:
Only available to support slow time investigations
Often miss opportunities re CCTV
Do not provide sufficient explanations –guidance is most important role
Could provide more help retrieving and converting evidence to readable formats

6. Barriers and Issues
The percentage of respondents who reported barriers or problems when dealing with various aspects of digital evidence:
seizing digital evidence – 32%
submitting digital evidence to the CPS – 31%
reviewing extracted data – 26%
submitting digital evidence for examination – 22%
interacting with device examiners – 18%
reviewing digital evidence for court – 17%

7. Recommendations from participants
Better training, covering the potential of digital evidence and the ‘how to’
Better equipment and software to support viewing, copying, editing and sharing digital evidence
More specialist staff available to support investigations
Speed up processes