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The digital forensics crisis in policing: What’s going wrong?

Forensics experts say that most crime has a digital footprint, but the police are unable to keep up with the soaring number of devices that require analysis

By
  • Sophia Sheera
Published: 09 Sep 2025 14:47

Over the past decade, every UK police force has assembled its own bespoke digital forensics unit (DFU), where cyber security experts are tasked with putting together digital evidence ahead of criminal trials. 

But backlogs are long and vary greatly across different forces, meaning access to a timely trial depends on where a victim lives. Digital forensics investigators (DFIs) are overworked and under-supported, according to professionals in the field. As a consequence, staff vacancies are rife and crimes are going unsolved because there aren’t enough computer experts to analyse seized devices.

“It’s a sinking ship. We’re fighting fires right, left and centre,” said a serving DFI at a force in northern England, who wished to remain anonymous. “We’ve been promised a new IT system for five or six years, and our backlog is getting worse every week.”

The DFI told Computer Weekly: “We’ve had a few cases that have unfortunately been thrown out because [we] haven’t had the digital evidence ready. The work hasn’t been allocated to an officer, or no one’s had time.

“We’re constantly getting requests on all sorts coming in from the Crown Prosecution Service. We can’t always meet demand,” the DFI added.

Freedom of information (FOI) requests made by Computer Weekly reveal that timely access to digital evidence differs widely across the country.

At Greater Manchester Police, for example, 1,349 devices seized at crime scenes, including mobile phones and computers, are waiting to be analysed.

Devices are waiting for the longest times at the Police Service of Northern Ireland, where 112 devices have been in a backlog for over a year and eight devices have been waiting for analysis for more than two years.

In contrast, the City of London Police has only 76 devices in a backlog, none of which have been waiting for more than a month.

Broken system

Experts have long raised alarm bells, saying that the pace of technological development has outstripped the provision of digital forensics. Reports filed by the Police Foundation in 2021, academics at Northumbria University in 2024 and the Westminster Commission on Forensic Science this June have come to the same conclusion: the system isn’t working.

Part of the problem is that not only do people have more devices, but those devices are increasingly complex, and it can take days, or even weeks, to go through a single device.

Technologies such as the internet and artificial intelligence (AI) have changed the face of modern crime. The volume of child sexual abuse imagery online has gone up by 830% since 2014, according to the Internet Watch Foundation.

This year, home secretary Yvette Cooper added that AI has put videos and images of child sexual abuse “on steroids”, with the police needing DFIs to identify perpetrators now more than ever.

Investigators say they end up prioritising the most urgent cases, categorised as those where public safety is in jeopardy and those just about to go to trial. But in many instances, cases still end up postponed – or at worst, completely dropped – because the evidence needed for prosecution isn’t ready.

This June, the Westminster Commission report on Forensic Science revealed that more than 30,000 prosecutions in England and Wales collapsed between October 2020 and September 2024 because of issues with lost, damaged and missing evidence.

The victims of those crimes are left deprived of answers and compensation.

The report revealed that forensic science within law enforcement is stuck in a “graveyard spiral” of decline, owing to “reckless policy decisions” and spending cuts.

Last year, the Police Federation highlighted a 16% real-terms pay reduction between 2012 and 2024.

The situation is particularly difficult within digital forensics, where constant technology updates hamper the analysis of astounding volumes of material.

Tiggey May, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Crime and Justice Policy research at Birkbeck, University of London, said: “Every time Apple updates, everyone just sort of sits there wondering what problems it will bring.”

For example, the latest iPhones are unlocked by scanning their owners’ irises, which leaves police officers unable to access those devices without the help of a digital specialist. 

“DFUs are drowning in digital devices to unlock,” said May. “They can force an unlocking, but they prefer not to because it damages the phone.”

Staff shortages

Despite efforts to ensure standards and provide guidance, DFUs are still run in varying ways. At some, it’s left at the discretion of investigators to decide how to manage the backlog of work needing attention.

Another anonymous DFI said: “The most stressful thing I found in the job was knowing when to stop. Do I spend six hours defining an image on a computer, or do another case and find 30,000 on another computer?” they said.

The DFI tried to work out how much evidence was necessary to put criminals behind bars before moving on to the next urgent case. At night, they worried that they hadn’t done enough. 

Staff retention at DFUs across the country is low, with around half reporting staff vacancies this year, according to FOIs. Hertfordshire Constabulary reported 11 vacancies, leaving only 23 full-time staff, while Kent Police need 10 more officers to join 36 full-time equivalents.

A research project conducted by Paul Gullon-Scott, a former police investigator at Northumbria Police, revealed that 30% reported high to severe levels of vicarious trauma and 70% of digital forensics investigators reported some level of distress.

Meanwhile, the private world of cyber security offers three to four times the pay and only a tiny proportion of the stress.

“We’re almost fed up of trying to improve things,” said the first DFI. “I think a lot of it just comes down to not being listened to.”

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has been contacted for comment, but had not responded when this article was published.

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