Police failings are subjecting crime victims to “unacceptable delays” of up to eight months to secure the crucial digital evidence needed to prosecute a wave of modern-day offenders, the police watchdog has said.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary said too many forces had failed to keep up with changes in the nature of offending. As a result, some victims of digital harassment or domestic abuse are “giving up” on the police and some suspects are reoffending.

Some police forces are unable to get the basics of digital crime fighting right, such as downloading evidence from mobile phones, HMIC said. It also said some forces could manage.



The claims came as the police inspectorate published its annual assessment of force efficiency.

Zoe Billingham, from HMIC, said: “It is taking quite literally months on occasions to get a digital download off a mobile phone of an alleged offender”. She said she knew of cases where it had taken eight months, including in an allegation of domestic abuse.

Billingham added: “That time and delay cannot be afforded to bring the perpetrator to justice. They may be reoffending, the victim may simply give up on supporting police action.”

Mike Cunningham from HMIC said the best forces were partnering up with universities to get extra digital capacity.

He said the failing had to be fixed urgently: “They are real here-and-now threats. They range from the most serious kind of national terrorism threats down to ... an attempt to get you to part with your money through an email.

“The urgency of the issue is not matched by the urgency with which the service is responding.”

Essentially, crime has changed and much offending is now linked to digital devices or computers. Thus with traditional crime types, forces needed people to collect forensic evidence such as fingerprints and DNA. For new crime types, officers need to be able to seize data from electronic devices such as smartphones, and then secure that in a form suitable for presenting in a court case, as well as be able to sift through what is relevant and what is not.

Cunningham added: “What we are saying is that they are being overwhelmed. There is evidence that there is far too much of this evidence coming in for forces to meet that demand.”

HMIC’s findings on efficiency rated eight out of 43 forces as substandard. They were Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, City of London, Devon and Cornwall, Dyfed-Powys, Humberside, Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire.

Two were rated as excellent: Durham and West Midlands.