The challenge
The sheriff’s office had two digital forensic examiners and 1,140 devices waiting for examination, some of them for nine months. Prosecutors were dismissing cases for want of evidence, and victims were waiting for the return of their own phones.
What the office did
The office installed Handset Lab for its examiners and Handset Kiosks at four district stations, and trained 38 deputies to perform consent and warrant extractions. Results went directly into the relevant case in Concord, where detectives and prosecutors could review them.
Results
The backlog was cleared in seven months. The median wait for an extraction is now six days, and victims’ phones are usually returned the same day. The office’s examiners now spend their time on the most complex devices.
A victim should not have to give up her phone for nine months to report a crime.