Recommendation - West Yorkshire Police, February 2020
Recommendation date: 14 February 2020
Response due: 10 April 2020
Published: 17 February 2020
West Yorkshire Police (WYP) officers executed a search warrant at the home of a member of the public suspected of downloading illegal images of children. They seized a range of electronic equipment, including a PC with a memory stick. Following advice, officers left the memory stick in the PC and recorded it as one exhibit . The member of the public later asked for confirmation that the memory stick had been seized. WYP checked their records and said they didn’t have it. However, when some of the seized goods were returned, it transpired that they had seized it. The member of the public made a complaint to WYP, which the force did not uphold. The complainant subsequently appealed to us.
Recommendations (1)
Recommendation 1
Awaiting Response
Recommendation
The IOPC recommends that West Yorkshire Police amend their Standard Operating Procedure called ‘Forensic examination of digital devices and electronic networks – supporting information document’ to say that, if a memory device is left in computer equipment at the time … Read more