Towards A Smart Digital Forensic Advisor To Support First Responders With At-Scene Triage Of Digital Evidence Across Crime Types
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Val Abreu (UCL), Catherine O'Brien (UCL), Mark Warner (UCL), Maria Maclennan (University of Edinburgh), Niamh Nic Daéid (University of Dundee), Oriola Sallavaci (University of Essex) and Sarah Morris (University of Southampton)
ESRC
Metropolitan Police Service, Nottinghamshire Police Service, West Midlands Police Service, College of Policing and Forensic Capability Network
This project aims to lay the foundations for the development of a smart digital forensic advisor for first responders to help them apply a consistent and evidence-based approach to performing digital evidence triage at-scene. We will explore existing practices, resources, challenges, and user needs around the process of search and seizure of digital devices across two distinct crime types. Through this, we will identify data that could be used to inform the smart advisor tool, and data gaps that the tool itself could address. We will also be exploring both the legal and ethical implications of its use, due to the tools potential in helping to shape decision-making at scene. Finally, drawing on our findings we will develop a set of early-stage low-fidelity prototypes to present back to our user groups.
Main findings
Current findings suggest different forms of digital evidence triage are occuring at different stages of an investigation, including search and seizure planning, at scene search, and post search. Our research will explore triage at these different points.
Reports
O’Brien, C., Abreu Minero, V., Warner, M., Maclennan, M., Morris, S., Nic Daéid, N., & Sallavaci, O. (2024). Digital Forensic Triage Project Launch Event Report.