OSCE Mission to Montenegro co-organizes regional workshop for forensics experts on digital evidence

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro, in co-operation with the Interior Ministry’s Police Forensics Centre, organized a regional workshop on Forensic Information Technologies for 15 digital forensics experts from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro on 5 and 6 December 2017 in Danilovgrad.

Digital evidence includes information on computers, audio files, video recordings, and digital images. This evidence is essential in computer and Internet crimes, but is also valuable for facial recognition, crime scene photos, and surveillance tapes. It is any information or data of value to an investigation that is stored on, received by, or transmitted by an electronic device. Text messages, emails, pictures and videos, internet searches, as well as any piece of technology that processes information which can be used in a criminal way are also forms of digital evidence.

“With the wide variety of electronic devices in use today and the speed with which they change, keeping up can be very difficult for law enforcement. Therefore there is a need for more intensive regional forensic co-operation and knowledge exchange,” the Deputy Director of the Forensic Centre Aleksandar Ivanović said.

The OSCE Mission’s Security Co-operation Programmme Manager Vladimir Ragozin said that the regional event is aimed at exchanging the best practices from two countries in this area. “The Mission will continue to promote the importance of quality of forensic evidence, including IT forensic evidence that can be used in regional investigations and in national criminal justice systems,” he added.

The workshop is one of many joint activities by the Centre and the Mission aimed at strengthening the crime investigation. The long-standing co-operation of the two organizations has resulted in the Forensic Center being accredited with the International Standard of Quality ISO 17025. It is also now a member of, and active participates in the European Network of Forensic Science Institutions.