A difficult one! Collaborative means different things at different levels of policing, with some demonstrating inter-departmental collaboration, others inter-agency and still more demonstrating international collaboration. The success of the work detailed in many of these nominations was dependent on that successful collaboration. This one prompted some intense discussions from the judging panel!

Here’s our shortlist:

RMP

RMP provided digital forensic investigative assistance to the Royal Navy on an investigation into a serviceman for alleged possession of indecent child images. A collaboration consisting of military and police agencies was established to progress the investigation including the extraction of data from storage devices belonging to the suspect. The early care assessment led to finding immediate child safeguarding issues and the collaborative approach enable the identification of the child in 3 hours who was safeguarded. Following investigation, the suspect was successfully prosecuted.

Operation Bleak – UK Regional Police & Australian Federal Police

An investigation into Remote Access Trojan, Imminent Monitor, used to compromise devices, mine crypto currencies and more, was carried out by UK Regional Police. Following liaison with Europol, a parallel investigation was identified with the Australian Federal Police. Coordinated activity commenced using ground-breaking tactics to identify the highest priority users. Eventually, due to fluid information sharing across UK police forces and agencies, 86 warrants were executed over multiple countries and 14 UK individuals were arrested. It shows there are real world consequences for actions in cyber space.

UK Policing

Regional police forces, supported by the National Crime Agency have developed a consistent, networked approach to safeguarding children from online predators and investigating the offenders. Between April 2017 and November 2019, 1339 children were safeguarded, 1584 offenders were arrested and nearly 1000 years of imprisonment had been imposed. Additionally, 781 intelligence logs were disseminated to international law enforcement agencies to enable further safeguarding to be undertaken. This uplifted networked response has made a cataclysmic leap forward in the ability to tackle this threat.

Contact Awards@bluelightsdigital.com to see if you are eligible to join us on the 10th March to find out who wins!