Recommendation - West Yorkshire Police, February 2020
West Yorkshire Police (WYP) officers executed a search warrant at the home of a member of the public suspected of downloading illegal images of children. They seized a range of electronic equipment, including a PC with a memory stick. Following advice, officers left the memory stick in the PC and recorded it as one exhibit .
The member of the public later asked for confirmation that the memory stick had been seized. WYP checked their records and said they didn’t have it. However, when some of the seized goods were returned, it transpired that they had seized it. The member of the public made a complaint to WYP, which the force did not uphold. The complainant subsequently appealed to us.
IOPC reference
Recommendations
The IOPC recommends that West Yorkshire Police amend their Standard Operating Procedure called ‘Forensic examination of digital devices and electronic networks – supporting information document’ to say that, if a memory device is left in computer equipment at the time of seizure, the seizure record must clearly identify the memory device using a separate exhibit reference.
Do you accept the recommendation?
No
I think we should reject it as I have just checked and this is already covered in our force policy (albeit you have to click through a link to find it).