CHAPTER 7: PRACTICE
Communications data and crime fighting
7.47.
Communications data is used in the investigation of 90% of all serious crime, helping
to establish who was (and was not) involved, with whom they acted and when and
where they did so.42 Some categories of crime, such as online crime, could not be
investigated without it. In these cases they also provide an opportunity for lawenforcement to be proactive, looking for suspects, rather than waiting until a crime
has been committed and a complaint made. That can contribute to the avoidance of
harm rather than the crime solely being investigated afterwards. I am informed that
communications data also play an increasing role across the range of criminal and
missing persons investigations. A detailed picture of the utility of communications
data in law enforcement is at 9.21-9.32 below.
7.48.
One particularly controversial aspect of communications data use is the compulsory
retention by service providers of data, now enshrined in DRIPA 2014. Retained data
provides information about conduct in the past, often before a suspect is identified. It
is frequently relied on to piece together conspiracies and associations between groups
of criminals.
7.49.
At Annex 10 to this Report are a number of examples of the use of retained
communications data in the UK that were published by the European Commission.43
The full document contains other examples of the use of retained communications
data in other EU countries.
7.50.
To understand and explain fully how communications data was used, the police
carried out a detailed survey over two weeks in 2012 of the requests for
communications data made by 62 law enforcement agencies nationally.44 There is no
reason think that this is an untypical period or that the results would today be
significantly different. The major outcomes of that survey were:
42
43
44
(a)
Communications data were requested for a very wide range of crimes. Almost
a quarter of requests related to drug offences, but no other crime took up more
than 11% of the total. A graphic representation of the crime types involved is
at Annex 11 to this Report. 28% of data requests concerned people who were
not suspects: 18% were victims.
(b)
Almost a quarter of requests related to threat to life, an immediate risk or urgent
operational necessity in relation to serious crime or national security: Annex 12
to this Report.
(c)
28% of all requests were for data over three months old. Older data was relied
on particularly frequently in serious cases. 37% of data requests relating to
sexual offences, 27% relating to terrorism, 11% relating to drugs, 5% relating
Evidence of the NCA to the Review. See also the range of uses of communications data highlighted in
IOCC Report, March 2015, at 7.65 and 7.67.
DG Home European Commission, Evidence for necessity of data retention in the EU (March 2013),
found at: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/pdf/policies/police_cooperation/evidence_en.pdf.
Evidence to the Review from the National Policing Lead for Communications Data, September 2014.
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