Met police to take mobile phone data from crime suspects

Mobile phone data from crime suspects will be extracted at police stations and retained under a new system introduced by the Met. The data includes call history, texts and contacts and will be kept regardless of whether any charges are brought.

The technology is being used in 16 London boroughs, and could potentially be used by police across the UK.

Until now officers had to send mobiles off for forensic examination in order to gather and store data, a process which took several weeks. Under the new system, content will be extracted using purpose-built terminals in police stations. It will allow officers to connect a suspect’s mobile and produce a print out of data from the device, as well as saving digital records of the content.

A Met Police spokesman said the phone data is “retained and handled in accordance with other data held by the MPS” regardless of whether the suspect is charged.

For more on this story from The London Evening Standard, click here.

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