New technology helped police catch former Hucknall drugs gang member

Drug dealers and serious crime offenders are likely to be taken off the streets quicker thanks to the introduction of new technology that is capable of piecing together their movements and contacts.
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The Chorus Intelligence software is capable of processing and analysing thousands of lines of mobile phone data and has already been used in a limited capacity by Nottinghamshire Police and is now being rolled out to more investigative teams.

The technology played a vital role in the recent conviction of violent, gun-toting gang of Nottingham drug dealers – one of whom was ex-Hucknall man Kiefer Smith who last month was jailed for 17 years for his part in the gang.

Detectives were able to conclusively link so called ‘burner phones’ used by gang members to retrospectively track their movements over a period of several weeks.

Nottinghamshire Police will be using Chorus to help combat crime and allow Analysts and Detectives to work closer together.Nottinghamshire Police will be using Chorus to help combat crime and allow Analysts and Detectives to work closer together.
Nottinghamshire Police will be using Chorus to help combat crime and allow Analysts and Detectives to work closer together.

By analysing thousands of lines of data in a matter of minutes, officers were able to link text messages and phone data to gang members’ movements.

That allowed detectives to retrospectively show where key members of the gang were at crucial times and who they were in contact with.

Detectives have been using mobile phone data to gather crucial evidence against suspects for many years, but the process has traditionally taken days or even weeks.

Thanks to the use of the Chorus software, many hours of detectives’ time can be saved and connections made to potential suspects that may otherwise have gone unnoticed.

Kiefer Smith was jailed last monthKiefer Smith was jailed last month
Kiefer Smith was jailed last month

Detective Chief Inspector Rich Bull said: “Modern investigations can be extremely complex, with detectives working to unpick the movements of multiple suspects, often over extended periods of time. Drug dealing gangs in particular make use of multiple mobile phones to conduct their business.

"We have long been able to piece together their movements and generate extremely strong evidence against them – but that has often taken many days or weeks of work by multiple detectives.

“This new software allows a single detective to achieve the same results in a far shorter amount of time.

"That means that rather than releasing a suspect on bail and back into the community we can very quickly process the evidence, secure a charge and get them remanded in custody.”