Phone investigation training

Training in mobile telephone examination is ongoing and in-depth, to reflect the speed with which these devices change.

The programme starts by familiarising the trainee with the current Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and health and safety guidelines which apply to the forensically sound methods used by our e-crime team, as well as good general health and safety practice. The trainee will learn about ACPO, RIPA, PACE and forensic documentation relating to laws and offences.

The training begins with shadowing, where the trainee follows the examination process from receiving the exhibit into the system to producing witness statements despatching exhibits to the customer.

As each examination milestone is reached the trainee will take a written exam to test their experiences and ensure they have picked up the necessary knowledge to continue to the next stage.

Shadowing usually takes several days, or until the trainee has a grasp of the procedures involved in every aspect of forensic examination.

The next step is to learn the finer points of examination using dummy cases set by reporting officers and involving every situation commonly faced by experienced investigators. These cases take 'lab phones' containing all variations of data types and force the trainees to use every skill they have gleaned from the SOP documents and shadowing experienced members of the team.

Once all dummy cases have been completed to a satisfactory level the trainee is ready to start supervised examination of live casework. This supervised training continues until the reporting officer is sure the trainee is competent to carry out examinations alone. This process could take up to a year, and the supervisor will continue to verify and sign the trained investigator's examination reports for another year, or until the analyst is judged competent to sign their own work.

Every year the investigator is assessed with competency testing - when they must forensically extract data from a complex handset while meeting standards set by the team leader.