Electronic Evidence: Challenges and Opportunities for Law Enforcement

Abstract

This chapter presents a cross-section of law enforcement issues addressed as part of the research conducted by INTERPOL in the framework of the European Informatics Data Exchange Framework for Courts and Evidence (EVIDENCE) project. The aim of the research was to formulate recommendations and best practice based on the status quo and challenges identified regarding the handling of electronic evidence by law enforcement agencies (LEAs). First, the status quo on the handling of digital evidence by LEAs and the main trends identified for each phase of the electronic evidence lifecycle are set out. Subsequently, the main challenges hampering law enforcement investigations and forensic analyses involving digital evidence are presented. These challenges can be categorised under two main headers, namely challenges caused by technical measures such as encryption and anonymisation tools and those caused by legal lacunae. Then, building further upon these findings, a set of recommendations are presented to strengthen law enforcement action in the field of digital evidence. This can, first, be done by working towards the professionalisation of digital forensics, as suggested by digital forensics practitioners themselves. Furthermore, as LEAs are not the only actors within the electronic evidence domain, it is also essential to continue enhancing the collaboration between LEAs and other actors, such as the judiciary and policymakers. Lastly, mutual legal assistance (MLA) procedures are no longer considered fit-for-purpose and LEAs continue to increasingly call for initiatives to expedite these often lengthy procedures.