Van to help investigate rape and serious sexual offences

West Mercia Police have taken delivery of a state-of-the-art digital van to help them investigate rape and serious sexual offences across Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire.
The van, which has been supplied through government-funded Transforming Forensics programme, enables officers to work with a victim at the scene without needing to go to a police station.
Kitted out with the latest technology, the unmarked vehicle allows officers to extract potentially crucial information from a victim's phone in around an hour.
The victim's privacy is protected because they don't need to leave their home - an officer can simply collect the phone, extract the data and then return it.
Matt Williams, Senior Digital Forensic Officer at West Mercia Police, said: "The aim of the van is to support victims of rape and serious sexual offences by going to them instead of them coming to a police station, which may be quite daunting.
"It is a significant addition to our resources and I'm sure we will see it have a positive major impact within our communities."
The van, which can accommodate two Digital Forensics officers at a time, features specialist software and equipment to examine computers, mobile phones, tablets, USB sticks and memory cards.
It also has technology capable of examining routers to identify any connected devices and extracting information stored in the cloud.