Photo for illustration. (Photo: iStock)
While cybercrime, online fraud and identity theft are on the rise in South Africa, the police have allegedly not provided any digital forensics training to detectives stationed at the country’s police stations with the highest crime rates in the past year.
So says Lisa Schickerling, DA spokesperson on police, after it was confirmed in a parliamentary answer that between 1 April last year and 27 February this year, not a single detective stationed at the 35 top police stations received digital forensics training.
Schickerling says this party will write to Firoz Cachalia, the acting minister of police, to ask for an explanation as to why no digital forensic training has been provided, despite the growing cybercrime threat.
“We will also ask for clarity on what plans the police have to expand the digital investigative capacity and ensure that detectives are equipped to tackle the crimes of the future.”
She is of the opinion that this is not an oversight by the police, but rather a deliberate decision that does not enable the police to keep up with modern criminal activities.
Schickerling further says that crime such as bank fraud has become one of the fastest growing forms of crime in South Africa, with criminals increasingly using digital platforms to steal from victims.
“Yet the police are failing to equip detectives with the specialized skills needed to investigate these crimes. The consequences are serious. Without training on the chain of custody for digital evidence, detectives are at risk of getting it wrong.”
She believes that smartphone encryption methods are evolving quickly and that training can quickly become outdated.
Photo for illustration. (Photo: iStock)
“Detectives using old methods will permanently lock devices or cause factory resets. Critical evidence, such as WhatsApp messages, location history and financial app data of suspects in high crime stations (for example Nyanga, Inanda and Delft) become unrecoverable. The result of this is that major investigations are likely to stall or be thrown out of court.”
The parliamentary response also confirms that wider capacity problems are being experienced in the police’s detective branches. Across the 35 high crime police stations, there are only 3,496 detective posts being funded despite an approved requirement of 4,607 posts. Of those positions, only 2,480 have been filled.
Schickerling says this means that thousands of detective positions needed to investigate crime have either never been funded or remain vacant.
“While the police provided limited training in financial investigations and gender-based violence case management, they provided no digital forensics training whatsoever. Only 15 detectives in these police stations received financial investigation training during the reporting period.”
She emphasizes that criminals know that police members’ skills are lacking and that they will exploit this.
“South Africans deserve a police service that is prepared for modern crime. The complete absence of digital forensic training at the country’s police stations most affected by crime shows that the police are failing that test,” says Schickerling.