Bedfordshire Police have been praised by the Minister for Safeguarding after she visited the force’s HQ this week to unveil new guidance for police to safeguard victims’ right to privacy.
Mims Davies MP spent time looking at the way Bedfordshire Police work with victims to make sure as much evidence is collected as possible.
As well as collecting evidence of a sexual crime in a more traditional manner, officers might now also analyse a victim’s own phone or computer to gather evidence of a crime.
This new method of collecting intelligence has been met with some criticism, with claims it invades a person’s right to privacy, but the new guidelines unveiled by the Minister are designed to keep privacy intact and put the victim first.
“A victim is already quite traumatised as it is and so it’s natural for them to push back,” Ms Davis told the Bedford Independent on her visit.
“It is vital victims are treated with utmost sensitivity and respect when reporting crimes so that more victims feel able to come forward.
“These new measures are part of our commitment to ensuring police investigate crimes against women and girls thoroughly, with a clear focus on the suspect, not the victim.”
The new code of practice on data extraction strengthens a victim’s right to privacy during investigations into such as sexual assault, rape and grooming.
Police are only able to access limited information from a victim’s phone or other digital devices as part of their investigation, and only ever with the victim’s agreement.
Praise for Bedfordshire Police
Praising Bedfordshire Police and Bedfordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, the Minister highlighted how both have played a key role in helping roll out nationally this way of using technology to gather evidence.
“The team here are at the forefront of innovation when it comes to putting victims first and it’s been a central plank of his [Festus’] role as PCC,” she said.
“People in Bedfordshire should be really reassured that the police and the PCC are at the forefront of using technology to tackle these crimes and the experience they gained will be what all other police forces will be learning from,” she added.
As part of the visit on Tuesday (18 October), the Minister was shown one of Bedfordshire’s four digi-vans, as well as the digital hub where a number of different teams are based.
The force’s digi-vans enable detectives to take data from devices like phones or tablets quickly at the scene of an investigation, rather than seizing them and taking them elsewhere to download the data.
While this process used to take weeks or even months, in the vast majority of cases Bedfordshire Police now return devices to victims within a matter of hours.
Acting Chief Constable (ACC) Trevor Rodenhurst, said this makes a massive difference to the way they gather data and catch criminals who are often able to delete evidence from their own devices.
“The way technology is moving, a lot of data is no longer on their [a criminal’s] devices anymore. Some perpetrators use quite sophisticated techniques to hide what they’re doing.
“The days of just taking all the devices away [from the perpetrator] are gone. We will gather evidence from both ends, but will asses if a device is relevant to an investigation or not first,” said the Chief Constable.
Victim support network
Victim support too is also one of his main areas of protection. Speaking to the Bedford Independent the ACC added that the last thing his officers want to do is make a traumatic situation worse.
“The most important thing when you’ve been a victim of crime is your support network, and if we suddenly take your phone away and don’t give it back to you, that’s not going to help,” said the ACC.
“So we aim to give the victim their phone back within a couple of hours.”
Bedfordshire Police also have dedicated victim engagement officers who stay in contact with vulnerable victims and have specialist off-site referral centres so they can take medicals and interview them in an environment that is as comfortable as possible.
But, Mr Rodenhurst says he does not underestimate how intrusive it must feel to hand something like a mobile phone over to police, and that’s where the unmarked digi-vans come in.
“We can send these [vans] to the victims so they’re not in a ‘policey’ environment to ensure that we capture all the digital evidence we need to bring offenders to justice,” he said.
The vans are also used on the scene at the location of an offender too. Officers can quickly asses which devices might be useful to a case and discard any that may otherwise add to the workload.
Devices that they feel are important for a case can then be taken to be more deeply searched with specialist equipment elsewhere.
Funding needed
The ACC strongly emphasised, however, that they cannot continue with these advancements without funding. “This isn’t cheap, it comes at a cost,” he said.
“Bedfordshire has invested in that but it’s great the Minister is here today as we need the ongoing support of the government to make sure that we get the right funding so that we can maintain and continue to develop these capabilities, as well as officer numbers, which is important as well, the two things go together.”
Reiterating the Minister’s reassurance that victims come first, he added, “I want victims to be aware that we will listen to them, respond to them and we will look after them, and I’m encouraging them to come forward.
“That’s why we’re developing these capabilities to look after victims as well.
“We do not underestimate how intrusive it must feel to hand something like your mobile phone over to the police… but this new government guidance, I hope, will provide victims with further reassurance that we will treat this information with the utmost care and respect.”
Anyone wishing to report anything to the police, no matter when it took place, can do so at beds.police.uk/ro/report or by calling 101.
You can also contact the Emerald Centre, which helps victims of sexual abuse at their website.
