Met Police extract phones while suspects in custody

http//www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18102793

Don't personally like the idea of it.

But, that said, it could have saved Sam Hallam 7 years of his life.

Oh, I had a very big reply to this but chickened out!
Let me just say that this is nothing new, the only worry is that Police officers and not dedicated scenes of crime officers or engineers or scientists will be preserving evidence (digital) and I do not think that this would happen in the traditional fileds of criminalistics. We all know that the first digital forensic interaction with digital exhibits can be crucial in criminal cases, honestly, I would prefer if that were performed by scientists and not Police Officers.

My opinion!

Couldn't agree more Brian, at least the blame cannot be put on us when the evidence is altered! The triage option is going to become a burden upon them after a while, eventually they'll get tired of it and start putting it back to the dedicated teams and personnel! In my view, it is a cost cutting exercise that is taking officers off the street and away from doing front line duties!

mmmmmm! have the Met Police released this story or RTL????

I think you will find that this happens in many police forces across the UK already and has done for quite some time. I have been directly involved in it's implementation and ongoing monitoring in our force for over a year already.

Do anyone know what kind of utility they will use?

Homebrew or standard market such as XRY?

The BBC articles says

Quote
"Mobile phones and other devices are increasingly being used in all levels of criminal activity”
Stephen Kavanagh Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service

Is this based upon current data? Does it exclude what has been going on since e.g. 1998?

Observations about working in practice

Quote
"Under the new system, content will be extracted using purpose built terminals in police stations."

This idea/concept of is not new as similar was being conducted at some police stations when reading SIM Cards in early 2000. SIM Card / handset readings were also being conducted at football matches by mid-2000s when hooligans were pulled over. IMEI stop-checks and confiscation is another example.

This booth procedure might be difficult to examine pin/password locked devices that would require chip removal and those devices with encrypted data.

Will each booth (nominated lab site) require being approved under the Forensic Regulator proposed system? Would one (1) general certificate be issued for all sites and would that not breach, apart from other requirements, good practice and quality assurance principles etc etc?

Who proves (in)accuracy?

Quote
A Met Police spokesman told the BBC that when a suspect was released, "data received from the handsets is retained and handled in accordance with other data held by the MPS [Metropolitan Police Service]" - regardless of whether charges had been brought.

When it states "held" it doesn't state how long data will be retained nor qualification of the legal provisions which suppprt periods of retention. Everyone will need to know the 'retention period' eg if an independent examiner doesn't examine the same mobile phone (examined under this system) handed back to the owner until a year later relating to the same or a separate matter and the data from the earlier 'Booth' examination is being used to contradict the later findings of an examiner? Will an independent examiner still be needed?

Do anyone know what kind of utility they will use?

Homebrew or standard market such as XRY?

The report mentions Radio Tactics involvement so I would assume they are using ACESO. Not the option we went for (in a large part down to cost) but, understandable choice for officers that this is only a small part of their job.

Will it affect your job alex101?

Evidence is one thing, Understanding is another - http//trewmte.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/evidence-is-one-thing-understanding-is.html