What you need to know about your Cell Site Analysis Expert

The majority of people we speak to are unaware that cell site analysis is currently an unregulated area of digital forensics. Anyone can claim to be an expert even when they are not, and they often do. We would always recommend that you obtain a copy of the cell site analysis experts CV in order to check that they do have the relevant expertise and experience. It is also worth finding out is cell site analysis is their primary role, is this what they do every day? Many claim expertise in several other disciplines, yet cell site analysis has never been more complex and someone who does not work with cell site analysis evidence every day would be unable to keep abreast of changes within the industry.

There have been so many changes in relation to cell site analysis evidence recently, specifically in relation to consolidation within the infrastructures of some of the mobile phone network providers. The formation of the EE network, with the merging of Orange and T Mobile, as well as the rollout of the 4G network has led to extremely complex scenarios when performing network surveys. The cell site analysis experts at Footprint Investigations have seen many survey results that are not effective as the surveyor does not have sufficiently current knowledge or expertise.

Cell site analysis is not related to computer forensics so any background in this discipline by someone claiming expertise is unlikely to be relevant. Relevant experience is industry based and should come from a hands on background in planning and optimisation or a similar role for one of the network operators such as Vodafone or EE.

It is worth noting that as there are so few cell site analysis experts that many companies use subcontractors to provide you with an expert. Can you speak directly to your expert?

Does your expert conduct their own surveys, write their report and give their evidence at court? In our experience many do not. You may also be surprised at how few times many ‘experts’ have given evidence and therefore do not have the court experience which you would expect.

Do they have experience of working on both prosecution and defence cases? Many have never been instructed by prosecution and this will usually have an impact upon how many times they will have been to court in order to give evidence.

Our cell Site Analysis Experts CV’s and court history are available upon request.