Understanding the Use of Digital Forensics in Policing in England and Wales: An Ethnographic Analysis of Current Practices and Professional Dynamics

数字证据可以揭示嫌疑人犯罪的意图，并有助于确定事件发生的时间、受害者和嫌疑人在哪里以及他们与谁联系。它越来越多地用于凶杀案、性犯罪、失踪人口、儿童性虐待、毒品交易、欺诈和窃取个人信息的审查，以及民事纠纷。近年来，随着需要数字法医分析的案件数量和每起案件需要处理的信息量迅速上升，执法机构正在努力满足这一需求。在这方面，需要进行社会科学研究，以阐明如何改进目前的做法，以及如何最大限度地发挥数字证据在侦查犯罪中的作用，同时维护道德可接受性、公民自由并保护受害者和被错误指控的人。然而，到目前为止，这些关键问题仍然没有得到充分的探索，对于在警方调查中使用数字法医证据及其引起的组织、专业和社会问题知之甚少。该项目旨在对数字法医资源、做法和专业知识进行理论上和经验上的人种学分析，为正在进行的调查提供情报，并帮助起诉嫌疑人。作为区域法医协作的一部分，其重点放在优先考虑数字取证从业人员在四支警察部队工作的投入的领域，其主要目标是审查这一组织安排所涵盖的警队的现有规定，并探讨数字取证能力如何用于制作数字证据。该项目将采用定性方法来分析不同职业群体之间的互动和交流，并使这一很少探索的社会和政治敏感领域变得清晰可见。将重点放在将数字数据转化为证据及其到起诉前最后阶段的轨迹上，将使人们能够观察DF知识和程序(1)在展开时和(2)在调查过程中的不同点。它将缓解业务程序和依赖性、职业紧张、监管动态以及对DF能力的独特理解。该项目的潜在好处是多层面的：从概念上讲，该项目将有助于对法医技术在警务中很少探索的应用进行社会学和犯罪学研究。分析还将通报和更新更广泛的社会法律、犯罪和警察研究方法，以评估法医学对刑事司法结果的贡献，以及关于不同利益攸关方如何理解刑事司法在警察调查中的作用的社会科学文献。在方法上，该项目将促进从业者参与并通过其设计，并就社会科学研究在记录、建立和维持不同实践社区之间的对话方面的作用提供新的见解。在实践层面，该项目将提供对当前DF安排的深入了解。这项研究将加强警察部队的举措，通过教育利益攸关方了解DF对刑事调查作出贡献的方式来提高业绩。它将以组织自省的方式这样做，以期促进跨界别的合作、交流和改进。调查结果将有助于查明粮食保障资源的差距和交付过程中的紧张局势，并直接影响目前的做法。它们将促进提供者和使用者之间的对话，并为未来调查人员的培训提供信息。在政策层面，调查结果将有助于更好地做出明智的决策。他们将把重点放在DF中的“什么是有效的”上，从而帮助促进最佳实践，并导致更有效地交付DF条款。

Digital evidence can reveal a suspect's intent to commit an offence and help establish when events occurred, where victims and suspects were and with whom they communicated. It has been increasingly used in examinations of homicides, sex crimes, missing persons, child sexual abuse, drug dealing, fraud and theft of personal information, as well as in civil disputes. As the volume of cases requiring digital forensic analysis and the amount of information to be processed in each case have risen rapidly in recent years, law enforcement agencies are struggling to address this demand. In this context, social science research is needed to illuminate how current practices can be improved and the ways in which the usefulness of digital evidence in crime detection can be maximized while preserving ethical acceptability, civil liberties and protecting both the victims and the wrongly accused. To date however, these critical issues remain under-explored and little is known about the deployment of digital forensic evidence in police inquiries and the organiational, professional and societal issues it raises.This project aims to offer a theoretically grounded and empirically based ethnographic analysis of the digital forensic resources, practices and expertise mobilised to provide intelligence for on-going investigations and aid the prosecution of suspects. Focusing on areas of improvement prioritised with the input of digital forensics (DF) practitioners working across four police forces as part of a regional forensic collaboration, its main objectives are to examine current provision in the constabularies covered by this organizational arrangement and explore how DF capabilities are used in the production of digital evidence. The project will employ qualitative methodologies to analyse the interactions and exchanges between different occupational groups and render visible this rarely explored socially and politically sensitive domain. A focus on the transformation of digital data into evidence and its trajectory to the final stage before prosecution, will enable the observation of DF knowledge and routines (1) as they unfold and (2) at different points in the investigative process. It will bring into relief operational procedures and dependencies, professional tensions, regulatory dynamics and distinct understandings of DF capabilities. The potential benefits of this project are multi-layered:Conceptually, the project will contribute to sociological and criminological studies on the seldom explored application of forensic technologies in policing. The analysis will also inform and update wider socio-legal, crime and police studies approaches to assessing the contribution of forensic science to criminal justice outcomes, and social science literature on how various stakeholders understand the role of DF in police investigations. Methodologically, the project will facilitate practitioners' engagement with and through its design, and provide novel insights on the role of social science research in documenting, establishing and sustaining dialogue between different communities of practice.At a practical level, the project will provide an in-depth understanding of current DF arrangements. The study will augment initiatives by police forces to improve performance by educating stakeholders about the ways in which DF can contribute to criminal investigations. It will do so in an organizationally reflexive way, with a view to foster cross-sector co-operation and exchange and improvements. The findings will help identify the gaps in DF resources and tensions in its delivery and impact directly on current practices. They will promote dialogue between providers and users, and inform the future training of investigative staff.At a policy level, the findings will contribute to better informed decision making. With a focus on 'What Works' in DF they will help promote best practices and lead to a more efficient delivery of DF provision.