FOI 266827
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 266827
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 31st July 2023. Please find below the response to your request:
I have a few queries below:
Q1 How many cases did your digital forensics unit deal with each year, over the last ten years (or if the last ten years of data is unavailable, please supply as many
years as is held) ?
Q2 For the last ten years (or if the last ten years of data is unavailable, please supply as many years as is held), please supply the totals of crimes not recorded as an
online crime and their outcome data
Q3 For the last ten years (or if the last ten years of data is unavailable, please supply as many years as is held), please supply the totals of crimes recorded as an
online crime and their outcome data
Q4 How many digital investigations are classed as involving retrieving evidence from online cloud based services?
Q5 Do you utilise an external party for cloud forensic investigations?
Q6 How many personnel do you have in your digital forensic teams?
Q7 Are you looking to increase digital forensic personnel or budget over the next 3 years?
Reply
Your request for information has been considered in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”), and I am not obliged to provide the information requested.
S.12(1) of the Act states that a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the “appropriate limit”. For police forces in England and Wales, the "appropriate limit" is £450 or 18 hours of work as set by the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
The information you have requested in questions 1 to 4 is not available in a readily retrievable format. In order to ascertain whether the information you have requested is held would take in excess of 18 hours as each record would have to be checked individually. In accordance with s.17(5) of the Act, this acts as a Refusal Notice.
However, In accordance with Section 16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request and can provide the information requested for questions 5, 6 & 7 as this was retrieved during our initial research. This should not be taken as a precedent that additional information would be supplied outside of the time/fees legislation for any subsequent requests. Please see below.
Q5 Do you utilise an external party for cloud forensic investigations? No
Q6 How many personnel do you have in your digital forensic teams? 57
Q7 Are you looking to increase digital forensic personnel or budget over the next 3 years? Yes, although the final decisions will sit with Chief Officers.