This brief report provides an overview of a research study’s methodology and findings, listing recommendations for law enforcement agencies and crime laboratories to improve their digital evidence processing and analysis workflows.
This brief presents digital evidence (DE) findings and implications for law enforcement and crime laboratories; the findings were gathered from an exploratory study by RTI International. The brief also summarizes some key considerations for law enforcement as they store and submit DE for analysis, and for the crime laboratories as they process digital evidence. The paper lays out the study’s methodology, which involved DE laboratory and law enforcement surveys administered between February 2022 and March 2023, and qualitative interviews. Findings and implications of the surveys and interviews are discussed, along with graphical data representations. The brief also provides recommendations, based on the study’s findings, for law enforcement agencies and crime laboratories.