The Police Digital Service (PDS) has completed its implementation of the Rape Review Response Project Tech Uplift 2 (RRRP2).
It said the initiative, backed by £4 million from the Home Office, will bolster the fight against rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO) and enhance the digital forensics capabilities of police forces across England and Wales.
RRRP has involved equipping 31 forces with hardware, software, training and validation support, including the provision of 161 laptops to examine mobile phones, 38 kiosks for targeted searches and 45 tablets for rapid data extraction from devices.
Extra training
The increased budget for training has provided over 900 courses for police officers and two forces, Derbyshire Constabulary and Suffolk Constabulary, have been given the means to provide in-force training.
This has been part of the response to the Ministry of Justice’s End-to-End Rape Review Report and Violence Against Women and Girls strategy.
Tony Blaker, senior responsible owner at PDS, said: “This initiative, delivered by PDS with Home Office funding, enables the participating police forces to examine digital devices quicker, selectively gather only the necessary evidence to carry out the investigation, and avoid having to take phones from victims and witnesses in most cases. This leads to a more efficient evidence collection and swifter investigations.”
