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Digital evidence is now part of almost every criminal investigation, from mobile phones and body-worn video to cloud storage and encrypted messaging apps. As the volume of data continues to grow, police forces face increasing pressure to investigate cases more quickly without compromising evidential integrity.
Ahead of The Emergency Tech Show, Exterro, a Microsoft Partner Pavilion exhibitor, shares how its digital forensics and data privacy technologies are helping emergency services tackle investigation backlogs, responsibly adopt AI and streamline Freedom of Information and Subject Access Request processes.
Digital evidence is now part of almost every investigation. How is the growing volume of data changing digital forensics?
Digital evidence has evolved from being a specialist consideration to becoming central to almost every criminal investigation, creating significant operational challenges for police forces.
Traditionally, devices were sent to a central Digital Forensics Unit, often contributing to lengthy evidence backlogs. We’re now seeing more forces adopt distributed models, where trained frontline officers can carry out rapid triage using intuitive tools, while certified forensic analysts focus on the most complex examinations.
Investigators are also dealing with unprecedented volumes of data across mobile devices, cloud services, encrypted messaging platforms, vehicle systems and body-worn video. In many cases, carrying out a full forensic image of every device is no longer practical.
By combining full forensic acquisition with targeted collection, rapid triage and direct officer access to relevant data, forces can surface key evidence much earlier and significantly speed up investigative workflows.
Exterro has introduced new AI capabilities for digital investigations. How can AI improve efficiency while keeping investigators in control?
Our AI capabilities are designed to support investigators, not replace them.
With ARMOURop and ARMOUR for FTK, investigators can start with a plain-language objective, and the technology helps build and execute a forensic workflow, correlate artefacts, summarise content, perform optical character recognition and reduce the amount of irrelevant material that needs reviewing.
The important point is transparency. AI-generated leads remain fully reviewable and traceable back to the underlying evidence, so investigators remain responsible for validating findings and making investigative decisions.
Forces also have administrative controls over which AI features are available, allowing organisations to align AI use with their own policies, governance requirements and risk appetite.
Why is automating FOI and Subject Access Requests becoming so important for emergency services?
Emergency services manage huge volumes of personal and sensitive information across operational logs, body-worn video, incident reports and internal communications. Handling Freedom of Information and Subject Access Requests manually across multiple systems is time-consuming and resource intensive.
These requests also have statutory deadlines, so teams need efficient ways to find, review and redact information while maintaining a clear audit trail.
Exterro Data Subject Rights Manager automates data discovery across both structured and unstructured sources, helping organisations identify responsive information and redact sensitive data more consistently. For police, fire and ambulance services, that means less administrative burden, stronger compliance and more time and resources available for frontline priorities.
How can technology help police forces find critical evidence faster without compromising quality?
Delays in processing digital evidence can affect charging decisions, safeguarding actions and ultimately the pace of justice. In-field triage allows investigators to preview devices and identify important artefacts much earlier in an investigation. Location history, message threads and other relevant information can help officers establish priorities before a full forensic examination is complete.
Bringing mobile extractions, computer images, cloud data and other evidence sources into a single platform also makes it easier to compare timelines and identify connections that might otherwise remain hidden across separate datasets. The result is faster investigative decision-making while maintaining evidence integrity and investigator oversight throughout the process.
What are you looking forward to discussing at The Emergency Tech Show 2026?
We’re looking forward to having practical conversations with visitors about the challenges they’re facing, whether that’s managing rising evidence volumes, reducing investigation backlogs, adopting AI responsibly or improving FOI and Subject Access Request workflows.
On the Microsoft Partner Pavilion, we’ll be showcasing Exterro FTK Central, FTK 8.3, Exterro Data Subject Rights Manager, ARMOURop and ARMOUR for FTK.
Visitors will be able to see how agentic AI can turn a plain-language investigative objective into a structured, reviewable forensic workflow while keeping investigators firmly in control. We’ll also demonstrate how our data privacy platform can streamline request intake, data discovery, review, redaction and delivery.
As part of the Microsoft Partner Pavilion, we’ll also be discussing how secure cloud services, AI and connected workflows can help emergency services scale investigations, reduce manual work and maintain data sovereignty, governance and defensibility. Most importantly, we’re looking forward to hearing where organisations are experiencing bottlenecks and discussing practical ways to solve them.
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Meet Exterro at the Microsoft Partner Pavilion throughout The Emergency Tech Show on 16-17 September at NEC, Birmingham. Register for your free ticket here.
