what can the police access?

[Pond31]

Hi

I am just wondering what can the police access on the mobile phone. There is no contact between myself and my second FA on any phone, mp3 player or computer so onces they discover that will they return my devices? I am also interested to know what text messages they can read? Can they recover and then read all the texts I have sent on the phone or can they only access texts which are directly related to the search warrant. i mean are they allowed to read all the texts I sent my daughter, sister, brother or other people etc or can they only access texts related to the named person on the warrant.

Pond31

[Peter1975]

Good question pond and I'm not 100% sure of the answer but here in E&W I think as the law stands they can access what they like as long as they have a "reasonable suspicion" which would be contacts, internet history, photos, messages, emails the lot.

Depending on how busy they are and if they contract out the work they can take months to even look at devices. My advice is to give them a couple of weeks and then just ask nicely if they have had a chance to make copies yet and can you please have them back because you can't afford new ones... Remember they are human beings doing a difficult job and it's best not to piss them off .. They are supposed to copy them and return them within a reasonable time but they can decide on what a reasonable time is and it's not uncommon for them to stubbornly refuse to hand them back until a case is closed... Quoting the law and demanding them back will just give them reason to be difficult and keep forgetting you exist so ask nicely first before you go down that route or get your solicitor to ask on your behalf.

[Goodguy]

They also have the ability to keep tabs on your phone after returning. Not right and should be told when you get your stuff back but they don't all follow rules. Only know cos know someone who recently did the training as a police and has since quit when she found out they were able to access her phone remotely to listen to calls and intercept texts due to a matter woth her boyfriend in related to this but if they can do it to their own they'd have no issues woth the rest of the public so just be aware it's a possibility that everything you send or say over the phone may get to them