Glocs Police win international award for work in helping victims of domestic and sexual abuse
It's part of their work with 'Project Odyssey' and means victims of alleged crimes can keep their phones after reporting a crime
Last updated 14th Jun 2024
Gloucestershire Police have won an international award for their work helping victims of domestic and sexual abuse.
It's all part of 'Project Odyssey', which was an initiative funded by the Home Office, and lets victims of alleged crimes keep their mobile phones after reporting a case to the police.
The initiative has been pioneered by the Gloucestershire force - and supported by the Police Digital Service - to create specially trained officers and forensic experts.
These experts have the knowhow to extract evidence from a mobile phone or any other mobile device within a set time period.
The award - called ‘Advancing the Field of Digital Investigations’ - was handed the the Constabulary at this year's International Digital Investigation Awards - a competition that focuses on innovation.
It's said to be regarded as ‘the only award that matters’ in the world of digital intelligence and investigation.
Richard Humphrey, Governance and Executive Support Function lead for the Home Office, Homeland Security Group, said, “The panel spent some time considering each nomination in detail and were enormously impressed by the standard of this year’s nominations.
“All the nominations were outstanding, and the winner(s) should feel very proud that they have been selected”.
It reassures victims at a time when they are at their most vulnerable
Odyssey is used in incidents involving victims and witnesses of domestic abuse, stalking, coercive behaviour, rape and sexual offences who may have evidence on their mobile devices.
Detective Superintendent Paul Keasey, Gloucestershire Constabulary’s Head of Specialist Operations, said: “Whilst it’s great to win an award, the real value of Project Odyssey is that it enables specially trained officers to be able to collect relevant data at the scene of the alleged crime.
“It provides a potential solution to the ongoing problem of police asking victims to hand over their mobile phones for the examination of personal data at a time when they are at their most vulnerable. And it will give victims confidence that only evidence relating to the offence, is being investigated”.
Through a process called 'time slicing, Odyssey is used in incidents involving victims and witnesses of domestic abuse, stalking, coercive behaviour, rape and sexual offences who may have evidence on their mobile devices, which can be recovered at the scene in the presence of the victim.
Odyssey devices can extract data from Smart devices, USB’s, memory cards, dash cams, Apple and Android operating systems.
Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire, Chris Nelson said: “I have made tackling male violence against women and girl’s one of my top priorities. This ground breaking initiative is all about using technology to empower vulnerable victims in their quest for justice, and reduce their stress when supplying evidence.
“I hope it will soon be rolled out to every force in the country. The Constabulary should feel extremely proud of their technical achievement, which has the potential for many more applications, here in the UK and around the world.”