Horsman Graeme
Cranfield University, Bedford, UK.
J Forensic Sci. 2025 Jan;70(1):369-375. doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.15655. Epub 2024 Nov 7.
Law enforcement officers should now expect to encounter forms of digital evidence at most of their inquiries, and as a result ensure they are prepared to effectively deal with it. This should involve the production of a digital evidence strategy (DES) which describes those actions required of any investigative team to effectively identify, collect, examine, and evaluate any digital devices/data, while also defining the circumstances for when it is appropriate to conduct such tasks. To help officers to produce robust DESs this work provides a DES template which utilizes the "GAMEPLANS" acrostic to identify nine fundamental components that are required of all DESs-"G"-Grounds for investigation; "A"-Authorization; "M"-Method of investigation; "E"-Evaluation of the meaning of any findings; "P"-Proportionality; "L"-Logic; "A"-Agreement; "N"-Necessity; "S"-Scrutiny. Each of these components are described including the sub-tasks that are contained within each, which any officer constructing a robust and effective DES must address (and provide evidence of having addressed). To support this, a DES template file is also provided, which can be utilized by officers.
执法人员现在应该预料到，在他们的大多数调查中都会遇到各种形式的数字证据，因此要确保他们做好有效处理数字证据的准备。这应该包括制定一项数字证据策略（DES），该策略描述了任何调查团队为有效识别、收集、检查和评估任何数字设备/数据所需采取的行动，同时还定义了进行此类任务的适当情形。为了帮助执法人员制定完善的数字证据策略，本文件提供了一个数字证据策略模板，该模板利用“GAMEPLANS”这一藏头词来确定所有数字证据策略都需要的九个基本要素——“G”——调查依据；“A”——授权；“M”——调查方法；“E”——对任何调查结果意义的评估；“P”——相称性；“L”——逻辑性；“A”——一致性；“N”——必要性；“S”——审查。文中对每个要素都进行了描述，包括每个要素中包含的子任务，任何构建完善且有效的数字证据策略的执法人员都必须处理这些子任务（并提供已处理的证据）。为此，还提供了一个数字证据策略模板文件，执法人员可以使用该文件。
