ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the investigation of digital crime fits within the wider context of criminal investigation, how investigation is modelled, and the place of digital evidence within the criminal justice system. The use of intelligence, the collection and use made of evidence, and most pertinently of all, the investigative process itself are all of importance to the policing of digital crime. Intelligence-led policing (ILP) methodologies can be discerned in a number of approaches to investigating digital crime, for example, the use of honeytraps to collect intelligence on offenders or police officers posing as casual users of social network sites. The notion of a criminal investigation superficially suggests a process of police enquiry into a crime. In the UK the model of criminal investigation is currently based on the 2005 Core Investigative Doctrine. The model consists of eight possible stages: instigation, initial investigation, investigative evaluation, suspect management, evidence assessment, charge, case management, and finally court.
