Digital Forensic Unit 516/2025

FOI Reference: 516/2025

Request

I am writing to request the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, in relation to your force's Digital Forensics Unit.

1.Device Submissions and Backlog

1. The number of devices currently awaiting examination.
2. As of the present day, the number of devices that have been awaiting examination for under 30 days, 30 days - 3 months, 3 – 6 months, 6 months – 1 year and 2 – 3 years, 3 – 4 years, 4 years +.
3. Your force’s target turnaround time for completing forensic investigations.

2.Staffing and Capacity

1. The number of full-time equivalent staff currently working in the DFU, broken down by role if possible.
2. Any vacancies or staffing shortfalls affecting the DFU in the last 12 months.

3.Accreditation and Quality

1. Whether your DFU is accredited to ISO/IEC 17025, and if so, for which types of digital forensic activity.

4.Efficiency Measures

1. Whether your DFU uses triage processes or tools to prioritise devices or speed up examination.
2. Whether your force uses any form of AI or automation to support digital forensic work.
3. Whether any part of your digital forensic workload is outsourced to external providers, and if so, approximately what percentage.
4. Please disclose any regional or national forensic units you've collaborated with within the past year. 

 

Response Q1

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below:-

a) 299 devices (124 cases)

b) In cases not device

Under 30 days	19
30 DAYS TO 3 MONTHS	53
3-6 MONTHS	38
6 months to 1 year	14

c) We are unable to provide estimates as all cases are scored independently depending on the offence and circumstances.

Response Q2

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below:-

a)     1x Senior Manager

2x Technical Specialists

13x Digital Forensic Investigators (Currently 12 as 1 on maternity)

4x Digital Forensic Technicians (Currently 1 as 3 in recruitment)

1x Intern

b) The department have been operating with varying levels of Digital Forensic Investigators over the last 12 months due to staff turnover.

Response to Q3

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1(1)(a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Section 1(1)(b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.

Where exemptions are relied upon Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires -Powys Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which:

(a) states that fact,

(b) specifies the exemption in question and

(c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, however the following exemption has been applied to Question 3 :

Section 21 – Information reasonably accessible by other means:

"(1) Information which is reasonably accessible to the applicant otherwise than under section 1 is exempt information.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)—

(a)information may be reasonably accessible to the applicant even though it is accessible only on payment, and

(b) information is to be taken to be reasonably accessible to the applicant if it is information which the public authority or any other person is obliged by or under any enactment to communicate (otherwise than by making the information available for inspection) to members of the public on request, whether free of charge or on payment.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), information which is held by a public authority and does not fall within subsection (2)(b) is not to be regarded as reasonably accessible to the applicant merely because the information is available from the public authority itself on request, unless the information is made available in accordance with the authority’s publication scheme and any payment required is specified in, or determined in accordance with, the scheme.”

The information requested can be accessed via the following hyperlink –

a) https://www.ukas.com/wp-content/uploads/schedule_uploads/00002/7817Testing-Single.pdf (Pages 6 and 7)

Response Q4

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below:-

a) Yes however these are not accredited by the unit.

b) No AI is used.

c) Only an extremely small percentage of devices are outsourced for repair or advanced techniques. Unfortunately, no percentage is available.

d) The DFU are a part of the Wales Forensic Alliance

 

(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 12/06/2025)

Os oes angen y wybodaeth yma arnoch yn Gymraeg, cysylltwch â: [email protected] If you require this information in Welsh, please contact: [email protected]