Nottinghamshire Police is extending its use of a software to analyse mobile phone data in its investigations.
The force said so far it has used the Chorus Intelligence software in a limited capacity and is now rolling it out to more investigative teams, with analysts and detectives working closely together and an emphasis on the potential to deal with drug dealers and serious crime offenders.
The software makes it possible to analyse thousands of lines of data in a matter of minutes, enabling officers to link text messages and phone data to suspects’ movements.
Nottinghamshire Police said it has already been used to bring down a gang that had been dealing vast quantities of cocaine, crack and heroin.
Complex investigations
Detective Chief Inspector Rich Bull said: “Modern investigations can be extremely complex, with detectives working to unpick the movements of multiple suspects, often over extended periods of time. Drug dealing gangs in particular make use of multiple mobile phones to conduct their business.
“We have long been able to piece together their movements and generate extremely strong evidence against them, but that has often taken many days or weeks of work by multiple detectives.
“This new software allows a single detective to achieve the same results in a far shorter amount of time. That means that rather than releasing a suspect on bail and back into the community we can very quickly process the evidence, secure a charge and get them remanded in custody.
“We used this approach recently to lock up an especially violent and dangerous drug dealing gang who were later convicted by a jury of drugs and firearms offences and jailed for a very long time.
“Our recent investment in the Chorus system has allowed us to expand this capability to additional teams of detectives. That is great news for law abiding residents but bad news indeed for local criminals. “
Image from Chorus Intelligence
