Strengthened lab clears backlog

By RICHARD WOOD

The police national e-crime lab has completed its expansion and cleared a longstanding backlog of electronic crime investigations.

Manager Maarten Kleintjes said 400 people had applied for the 17 non-sworn positions advertised this year. Two of those appointments were still in progress.

The expansion was approved in July last year - after taking six years to get off the ground.

Kleintjes said that in its first three months, the lab had cleared a backlog of investigations that had dogged the department for "months and years".

"We are now able to give our investigators the attention they require in helping them in solving the cases.

"Previously we'd say, 'Sorry, we can't do it mate. We can't help you, we can't help you.'

"We got sick of saying it."

The staff chosen had a variety of complementary skills.

"It's a huge pool of knowledge. I think we can handle any inquiry now."

Most of the department's work was computer forensics for murder and drug inquiries.

"It's old crimes in new bottles - traditional crimes where electronic evidence has been left on electronic systems and it needs to be recovered and traced back and put into a form that investigators and a jury can understand.

"Every homicide, we're now involved in recovering electronic evidence, from cellphones, organisers, you name it."

Kleintjes said the careers structures created for the staff allowed the department to hire at a range of experience levels.

Unusually for the police, staff had been recruited from the private sector.