Information on digital forensic investigators and work they do
Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.029031
I note you seek access to the following information:
1. How many digital forensic investigators do you employ in your force?
2. What budget was provided to your force for digital forensics in the 2022 fiscal year and do you expect this to increase/decrease for 2023?
3. How many cases on average do you have awaiting digital forensic analysis each month?
4. On average, how much time is spent on digital forensics for each case?
5. How many digital forensic investigators have been signed off for work related mental health in the past year (Jan-Dec 2022)?
6. What proportion of cases are worked by individual DF investigators vs Collaborative teams of investigators working in your DFU or Collaborative teams working remotely?
7. Do you have measures in place to protect the mental health of investigators exposed to potentially traumatic images or evidence? (Yes/No)"
Decision
I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) by virtue of the following exemptions:
Section 40(5B) - Personal Information
Reason for decision
In regards to Question 5 which asks How many digital forensic investigators have been signed off for work related mental health in the past year (Jan-Dec 2022)?
The Metropolitan Police Service can neither confirm nor deny whether it holds the information that you have requested as the duty in Section 1(1)(a) of the Act does not apply by virtue of the following exemptions:
Section 40(5B) - Personal Information
A Freedom of Information Act request is not a private transaction. Both the request itself, and any information disclosed, are considered suitable for open publication. This is because, under Freedom of Information, any information disclosed is released into the wider public domain, effectively to the world and not just to one individual.
In most cases, Personal Data is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, as I will explain below.
To confirm or deny whether personal information exists in response to your request could publicly reveal information about an individual or individuals, thereby breaching the right to privacy afforded to persons under the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).
Where an individual is requesting third party personal data the MPS must ensure that any action taken adheres to the principles of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK GDPR. To clarify, the Freedom of Information Act only allows disclosure of personal data if that disclosure would be compliant with the principles for processing personal data. These principles are outlined under section 34 of the DPA 2018 and under Article 5 of the UK GDPR.
Section 40(5B) - Personal Information - To confirm or deny whether any information is held in relation to your request would publicly reveal information about an individual or individuals. This would breach the right to privacy afforded to persons under the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). There are six data protection principles set out in section 34 of the DPA 2018 and under Article 5(1)(a) of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). The first principle requires personal data to be processed in a ‘lawful and fair’ manner. The basis for determining what constitutes lawful and fair is outlined under section 35 of the DPA. Under section 35(2) it states:
• the data subject has given consent to the processing for that purpose, or
• the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out for that purpose by a competent authority.
Under Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR, the disclosure of personal data is considered to be lawful if:
1. There is a legitimate interest in the disclosure of that personal data.
2. The disclosure of the personal data is necessary to meet that legitimate interest.
3. The disclosure would not cause unwarranted harm to the data subject
Your fifth question asks ‘How many digital forensic investigators have been signed off for work related mental health in the past year (Jan-Dec 2022)?’ By means of a legitimate interest test I have considered whether confirming or denying whether information is held is appropriate and have found that’:
1. Confirming or denying whether the requested information is held would provide a factual answer to this request. The legitimate interest in transparency would be further satisfied through the confirmation or denial if the required information is held.
2. To confirm or deny if and Digital Forensic Investigators have been signed off with for work related mental health issues would reveal personal data about MPS employees. In the event of a MPS employee been signed off with work related mental health issues, they have a legitimate expectation that the MPS would not publicly release and publish information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 that would confirm or deny whether this fact. Equally a person that has not been signed off with work related mental health issues would not reasonably expect the
MPS to release and publish this information. The confirmation or denial could cause damage and distress to the data subject if they were to be identified following the release of this information.
I have accordingly applied a section 40(5) exemption to your request.
Disclosure
Please find below the answers to your First, Second, Third, Fourth, Sixth and Seventh question below:
Q1 - How many digital forensic investigators do you employ in your force?
Within MO4 we currently have a total of 103 police officers and 275 police staff undertaking a wide range of digital forensic tasks. In addition we have an additional circa 500 officers carrying out mobile phone examinations as part of their investigations on a regular basis. There are other staff and officers mainly in the CT Command not included in these numbers.
Q2 - What budget was provided to your force for digital forensics in the 2022 fiscal year and do you expect this to increase/decrease for 2023?
The MO4 digital forensics budgets for 22/23 is £33.8 million. Yes this will increase in 23/24.
Q3 - How many cases on average do you have awaiting digital forensic analysis each month?
In February 2023, we had 1600 exhibits that were being worked on and 970 that had not been started
Q4 - On average, how much time is spent on digital forensics for each case?
This is not easy to answer as it will depend on technical challenges encountered on each exhibit. An estimate would be 20 hours on average.
Q6 - What proportion of cases are worked by individual DF investigators vs Collaborative teams of investigators working in your DFU or Collaborative teams working remotely?
As stated on point 4 each exhibit is looked at on its own merits. A standard examination will take 3 members of staff, one to acquire the data, one to analysis the data and one to QA the work carried out.
Q7 - Do you have measures in place to protect the mental health of investigators exposed to potentially traumatic images or evidence? (Yes/No)
Yes