I am currently in my final year of university doing Forensic Computing. My dissertation title is "Policies and Procedures for the New Digital Forensics
laboratory in the University of Wales, Newport City Centre Campus."
I have been researching a number of different policies and procedures that are required to be implemented in digital forensic
laboratories. However, I am finding it difficult to find different policy and procedure documents to compare and analyse.
I have been in contact with different Hight Tech crime units and digital forensic companies, and have either had no response
or been told that their polices are restricted and confidential.
There is also obviously a difference in the policies and procedures that are required in a working digital forensic laboratory to an educational laboratory.
Any advice or direction in this area would be much appreciated!
If you are having trouble getting information from LE and the business world and if that information might not relate to the policies you'd need to create for your setting anyway, why not stick with academic institutions? Get yourself a list of all the universities with forensics labs and reach out to them.
If you don't get any response, let your academic supervisor know and see if they can add some weight to your requests.
On that note, my own experience with even the most (initially) resistant companies has been that when provided official confirmation of your academic status and coupled with the security of a strict NDA, they often open up.
I was just about to suggest getting in touch with NHTCUs in Wales, but you've already tried that. I believe one of your lecturers is in a good position to help you out.
Also try getting in touch with ENNEX, as they have a lab nearby, and a good link with the university.
Emmajh,
You would think that LE is a closed shop from the responses you seem to have had. Well we're not all like that, if I am allowed to (which in most cases I am) I will share whatever I can with the community. Policies are rarely restricted unless they relate to anything which would compromise the fight against crime. Essentially all police documents are governed by the Management of Police Information (
A few police officers (and if I'm frank, myself, on the odd rare occasion) will err on the side of caution and just palm an enquiry off by saying it is restricted information. This gives the impression of being a closed shop when in actual fact it is just a case of not knowing what the status of a document is and/or not having the time or the inclination to look it up.
If you want to pm me we can have a chat. The only thing I would warn you about is that policies in the department I work for, are few and far between. The main one that governs my activities is widely published (
Paul