Digital Forensics Software Helping Tackle Case Backlog

As digital technology continues to advance, law enforcement has also seen growth in criminal activity in the digital space.

There has been so much growth that investigators are drowning in digital evidence generated by smartphones and other digital devices, while often lacking the resources needed to sort through it all. As a result, digital forensics backlog is becoming a serious problem for law enforcement organizations around the world.

 

Digital Forensics Backlog

Many forensics teams now find themselves sitting on treasure troves of untouched digital evidence that extend back years and through hundreds of cases.

Across the United States there is more than 20,000 digital devices that have not yet been examined.

It’s no surprise that investigators are overwhelmed. We don’t just live in the era of data, we live in the era of big data, and it’s only getting bigger.

To say that this global information explosion has led to bigger, more difficult digital forensics cases would be an understatement. Fortunately, a new generation of digital forensics technology has emerged to help tackle these problems and may hold the key to helping investigators solve some of their oldest, most difficult cases as well.

 

Oxygen Forensic® Detective Helping Tackle the Backlog

In particular, advances in processing speed and artificial intelligence technology are giving investigators the ability to review digital evidence from hundreds of devices in just a few hours.

Software solutions like Oxygen Forensic® Detective enable investigators to upload multiple devices to a single platform, where they can easily perform global searches and run AI-powered image recognition algorithms to quickly identify illicit materials. Furthermore, tools like Oxygen Forensic® Detective enable investigators to zoom through millions of critical files in a fraction of the time needed for legacy solutions.

This sort of functionality could play a tremendous role in helping law enforcement agencies around the world tackle the growing problem of digital forensics case backlog, and could lead to the resolution of numerous cold cases.

Leveraging tools like Oxygen Forensic® Detective, departments can begin digitizing their backlogs—uploading data from evidence bins filled with old smartphones to create rich databases of images, text messages, and other key data. From there, it would be easy to run facial recognition and other search algorithms across years’ worth of devices, unearthing evidence of old crimes or simply drawing connections between persons of interest.

 

Conclusion

It is important for investigators to be able to tackle the backlog because of the potential effects that it could have on the entire criminal justice system and have the right digital forensic tools that allow investigators to import, export, analyze, and organize to help supplement their cases.

To learn more about how to get the most value out of your digital evidence, and to find out if Oxygen Forensic® Detective is the right solution for you, request a 15-day free trial.