Forensic Analytics has been awarded the UK’s highest award for innovation, the Queen’s Award for Enterprise, recognising the impact and significance of its work within digital forensics.
The Queen’s Awards acknowledge outstanding achievement by UK organisations. Forensic Analytics is awarded for its work to deliver mission-critical software solutions that rapidly decode forensic data, allowing police forces to act on cases at speed.
Chief Executive, Steve Rick said winning the award is ‘recognition of the importance of digital forensics in solving crime today’.
“In our field, working in support of law enforcement at a time when over 90% of all crime has a digital component, the need for innovation in tackling the ingenuity of the criminal world has never been greater.”
“Whether it’s drugs, kidnap and extortion, people trafficking or some of the new and emerging trends in criminality like courier fraud where criminals prey on vulnerable members of society, perpetrators continue to innovate and so must we.”
Forensic Analytics’ flagship system is cell site analysis software CSAS, which is capable of processing vast call data sets in seconds. The software saves forensic analysts countless hours of time, ensuring investigations can proceed at speed, making CSAS an indispensable tool for the many UK police forces using it.
Rick explains the kind of impact that CSAS is having in law enforcement:
“The Assistant Commissioner for the Met Police recently stated that ‘during lockdown, we arrested one thousand individuals as part of County Lines drug investigations. We achieved a 90% guilty plea, in doing so saving court and investigators time’.
“This plea rate was achieved through a combination of good old fashioned detective work and policing, supported by digital forensic evidence that was so compelling that those arrested had little or no choice. Every day we have examples of where our software and solutions are enabling the fight against crime.”
Forensic Analytics launched in 2013 with the expertise of three highly committed engineers – Andrew Hausler, Joe Hoy and Martin Griffiths – and a mission to improve the efficiency of forensic analysis. Today the company is relied upon by 37 out of 45 police forces in the UK to deliver mission-critical solutions that augment law enforcement strategies.
As a relatively young company, winning the award is a big achievement, says co-founder Martin Griffiths.
“We spend a lot of time looking at the detail in our work. I suppose it’s a bit like looking at a jigsaw puzzle, we’re often looking at just one piece. But what this award does is step back to look at the whole picture and recognises all that we’ve done as a team to date. If we were to remove one of those pieces, we’d have an incomplete picture. This award is for all of us.”
Receiving the Queen’s Award in the pandemic year, says Rick, is all the more significant:
“Winning the award at any time is special, in the year of a global pandemic it is extra special.
“It’s been a tough year for everyone throughout the UK , particularly with remote working and the only interaction with colleagues and customers via e-mail, video and phone. The award is a huge boost to the Forensic Analytics team morale, even more so as it is announced when everyone can start seeing light at the end of the tunnel as we exit Covid restrictions.”
