West Midlands Police Revolutionies Digital Forensics with Exterro

The West Midlands Police faced challenges in their digital forensics process, with inefficient, highly manual workflows and increasing backlogs of evidential data delaying cases. Partnering with Exterro, the police force implemented a cloud-based digital forensics platform that enabled rapid, collaborative processing and review of data. The result was a drastic reduction in data backlog, faster case resolution, and heightened forensic readiness, positioning the department at the forefront of innovation in digital forensics.

Digging Out from a Growing Backlog

West Midlands Police, one of the U.K.'s largest forces, serves a population of nearly 3 million residents across 52 stations. Tasked with handling a wide range of criminal cases, their operations heavily rely on robust digital forensics to process and analyze evidential data. However, as advancements in technology have surged, the volume and complexity of digital evidence outpaced their systems, presenting significant barriers to efficiency.

John Price, Detective Sergeant, West Midlands Police, explains, "When I started back in the team back in 2016, if we were burning data, data would have gone onto a CD. Then over a couple of years, that data moved to a DVD, and then that data then moved to a Blu-ray. We're getting to the stage now where these data sets are just getting bigger and bigger. We're dealing with handsets and computer data running into hundreds of gigabytes or even  terabytes of data."

The West Midlands Police, like many law enforcement agencies, struggled with fragmented digital forensics workflows. Their processes for data collection, preservation, and review were siloed across regional Digital Forensics Units (DFUs). Investigators faced obstacles such as:

• Growing Data Backlog: The increasing volume of digital evidence—from Blu-rays to terabyte-level storage devices—resulted in significant processing delays.
• Disjointed Tools: Investigators were reliant on physical hardware like DVDs, USBs, and standalone workstations, which lacked scalability and often failed to ensure comprehensive data reviews.
• Time-Sensitive Investigations: Limited custody time meant officers struggled to review and act on critical evidence quickly.
• Escalating Costs: Rising expenses for consumables (e.g., disks) and hardware maintenance further strained resources.

This bottleneck not only delayed justice but also risked undermining the effectiveness of investigations.

If you don't change, you don't innovate, you will be stuck dealing with old storage media and the risks around that.John Price, Detective Sergeant

A Mandate to Transform Digital Forensics

John Price and the West Midlands Police were not alone in recognizing this problem was jeopardizing their ability to protect constituents and achieve justice for victims of serious crimes including child sexual abuse material (CSAM) investigations, human trafficking, and the like. The National Police Chiefs' Council had released a strategy to update digital forensics capabilities, the UK Digital Forensic Science Strategy, aiming to modernize and standardize digital forensics across law enforcement agencies and ensuring timely and effective responses to the growing complexity of digital crime. This strategy emphasizes the need for cutting-edge technologies, scalable infrastructure, and skilled personnel to address the increasing volume of digital evidence.

Taking the opportunity to lead this transformation, the West Midlands Police chose to implement Exterro’s FTK Central, a pioneering cloud-based digital forensics platform. By streamlining the digital forensics process, this solution promised to alleviate the key pain points preventing timely case resolution in a scalable and cost-effective alternative to traditional hardware-based solutions.

With FTK Central, WMP can process and validate large amounts of different data quickly, and at scale. It offers processing ten times faster than that of other solutions as well as innovative forensic and legal review workflows delivered via a single collaborative, web-based tool that gives users a real-time view into their assigned cases. As the solution requires minimal training, this has enabled WMP’s front line officers to work with forensic reviewers, examiners, and investigators to collect, process, and review key case-evidence. And with FTK Central’s advanced data filtering and analytics features, investigators can isolate relevant information faster than ever before.

This innovative solution addressed West Midlands Police's challenges in key areas:

• Cloud-Based Accessibility: The platform enabled secure, centralized access to evidential data, allowing officers, forensic reviewers, and investigators to collaborate without needing to be physically present at DFUs.
• Scalable Data Processing: FTK Central could process terabytes of data at speeds ten times faster than traditional systems, drastically reducing delays in evidence review.
• End-to-End Review Capability: The solution standardized workflows, allowing investigators to review data directly in real-time. This addressed concerns about incomplete data reviews previously caused by fragmented tools.
• AI-Powered Analysis: Advanced features such as AI-driven video recognition and Explicit Image Detection empowered investigators to respond faster to urgent cases, like identifying and mitigating harm in child abuse investigations, while minimizing exposure to graphic material.
• Minimal Training and Rapid Onboarding: FTK Central's intuitive, web-based interface required minimal training, enabling swift adoption by frontline officers and forensic staff.

Accelerating the Delivery of Justice for Victims and Perpetrators

The implementation of Exterro’s FTK Central has propelled the West Midlands Police to the forefront of digital forensics in the U.K. One of the first benefits was a drastic acceleration of how WMD could process case data. Price explains, "When someone's in custody and those custody time limits are quite short, a minimum of 24 hours, potentially up to 36 hours, you've really got to get through that phone data, that computer data really quickly--but you've got to have the assurance that the data you are providing to investigators is the best you can. One of the key benefits is being able to allow investigators to review that whilst someone's in custody." That translates directly into keeping perpetrators off the streets--or ensuring that the innocent are quickly dismissed from consideration.

By leveraging Exterro's FTK Central platform, the West Midlands Police has not only reduced data backlog but also simplified and standardized their workflows for evidence review. This means cases can be resolved faster and more efficiently than ever before, delivering justice for victims and perpetrators alike. This acceleration of the process and increased efficiency has also made it possible to cut through backlogs of cases. In the past, those backlogs might have extended to nine months or even a year and beyond. Now, delays have been slashed.

Collaboration has been a key component dealing with CSAM investigations, particularly through the integration of the Child Abuse Image Database (CAID) and Project VIC technologies. CAID provides a centralized repository for securely storing and analyzing child exploitation material, enabling faster identification and categorization of evidence. Project VIC complements this by standardizing and enhancing investigative datasets, which facilitates international cooperation and information sharing. Leveraging Exterro FTK's integrations with these databases, WMD helps colleagues around the UK identify CSAM faster and reduce the traumatic exposure of investigators to this imagery.

Leading the Way in UK Digital Forensics

The West Midlands Police became the first force in the UK to deploy such an advanced solution, setting a precedent for other forces to follow. The partnership between the West Midlands Police and Exterro has not only resolved critical inefficiencies in digital forensics but also paved the way for a national forensic strategy. By harnessing the power of a cloud-based, AI-driven platform, the police force has achieved faster justice, better resource allocation, and improved public safety.

As technology and crime evolve, the collaboration between law enforcement and innovative solutions like Exterro will remain crucial. As other police departments look to leverage this technology, Price has a useful lessons to consider. While the price tag might look large, you have to understand the benefits it delivers and the existing costs that will go away once it's implemented.

With any business, especially in policing, there isn't an endless pot of money.  If you're going to have a solution like this, you need to understand what's it going to replace. For example look at how many times we've got police officers investigators have to travel to collaborate, how many laptops or workstations do we have to provide, what is the consumables budget? There are so many small revenue costs and even capital costs that you can basically cash in when you've got a solution like this, if it's been implemented correctly.John Price, Detective Sergeant

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