Our most popular category by far! With over 40 nominations it was a battle to shortlist this down to three…in the end the judging panel could manage that and we ended up with four shortlisted nominees! Some truly incredible work was detailed in these nominations.

Here’s our shortlist:

West Yorkshire Police (Telecoms and Communications Data Unit)

This team showed exceptional use and development within the field of  Communications data and their training goes above and beyond, drastically increasing the standards of application. Some examples include liaising with Amazon to return an IP login history after learning a mis per may have logged into Wi-Fi using their kindle, leading to them being located; they linked with Leeds LA to understand the infrastructure and opportunities with 5G; used RFPS to show suspect’s phone was at the scene of a high profile murder.

Metropolitan Police Service (Project Alpha Team)

This team is a small group of officers that seek to address the threat posed by urban street gangs using social media and work with the social media and music industries to better identify and remove online content that incites real world violence. They have shown how digital and social media can be incorporated into conventional police methods. In the first six months, they produced 900 referrals, were instrumental in 58 gang nominal arrests, the recovery of 4 firearms with over 600 rounds, multiple knives and £150 000 in cash.

Home Office (Office for Communications Data Authorisations)

OCDA was set up from scratch when the change from communications data being authorised in house to independent authorisation to perform this function, came into being. They successfully recruited and trained staff from a diverse range of backgrounds, bringing fresh perspectives to this area of law enforcement. They have shown huge flexibility to work across public authorities who have their own idiosyncrasies and throughout the implementation have shown the ability to continually review and listen to feedback.

Hampshire Constabulary (OP Refund)

In 2018, a 13-year-old girl was brutally murdered. A suspect was identified in 24 hours and arrested. They ran enquiries into viewing 11 200 hours of CCTV and searched an area of approximately 610 000 sq mt. The suspect’s laptop and girl’s iPad showed email and web data that a message had been sent from the suspect to a new Facebook account 90 mins before the girl left home for the last time. Using Google cloud data, they were able to link the suspect’s phone to the scene and the route he took away from the murder, leading to the recovery of clothing and gloves covered in forensic evidence. 

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