Friday, 29 May 2026

How Forensic Intelligence Can Help Nigeria Prevent, Disrupt, and Curb Kidnapping

Forensic Intelligence Strategy in Nigeria Homeland Security Anti-Kidnapping Efforts

Kidnapping in Nigeria has evolved from isolated criminal activity into a sophisticated criminal economy. 

This has threatened national security, economic development, social stability, and public confidence in government institutions.

Across highways, rural communities, schools, urban settlements, and forest corridors, kidnapping-for-ransom has become one of Nigeria’s most pressing homeland security challenges.

Recent statistics reveal the alarming scale of the crisis. According to SBM Intelligence, between July 2024 and June 2025, at least 4,722 people were abducted across Nigeria in 997 kidnapping incidents, while no fewer than 762 persons lost their lives in abduction-related violence. 

The report further revealed that kidnappers demanded approximately ₦48 billion in ransom payments and successfully collected about ₦2.57 billion from victims and their families.

As reported by Premium Times citing SBM Intelligence, kidnapping in Nigeria has now evolved into a “lucrative criminal enterprise” driven by weak governance structures, porous security architecture, expansive ungoverned spaces, and growing criminal collaboration networks. 

Similar reports by Vanguard, TV360 Nigeria, and Daily Post also confirmed the scale of ransom payments and the increasing commercialization of abductions across the country (Daily Post).

The crisis intensified in 2024 with mass abductions occurring in schools, highways, and residential communities. Reuters reported that kidnappers demanded ₦1 billion ransom for the release of abducted schoolchildren in Kaduna State following one of the country’s largest school kidnappings in recent years (Reuters).

In another incident, Reuters reported that at least 22 kidnapped persons were rescued in Abuja after gunmen attacked the Dawaki axis near the Federal Capital Territory (Reuters).

The humanitarian implications are equally severe. According to The Guardian, more than 2,190 students have been abducted in Nigeria since the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping in 2014, highlighting the persistence of mass abductions over the past decade (The Guardian).

The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) also acknowledged the severity of the problem. As reported by the National Counter Terrorism Centre under ONSA, although Nigeria recorded a 16.3% decline in kidnapping-for-ransom incidents in 2024, kidnapping still remained a major national security threat affecting highways, schools, villages, and urban communities (Wadata Media Advocacy).

These realities demonstrate that conventional reactive policing alone cannot sustainably address Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis. Nigeria requires a proactive, intelligence-led, technology-driven, and integrated security framework. This is where Forensic Intelligence (FORINT) becomes critically important.


Understanding Forensic Intelligence (FORINT)

Forensic Intelligence (FORINT) refers to the strategic integration of forensic science, criminal intelligence, data analytics, behavioral analysis, digital forensics, geospatial intelligence, and investigative information into proactive security and law enforcement decision-making.

Unlike traditional forensic science that primarily focuses on evidence examination after crimes occur, FORINT emphasizes prevention, disruption, pattern analysis, threat forecasting, and intelligence generation before criminal attacks happen.

FORINT transforms forensic data into actionable intelligence capable of supporting:

  • Threat identification
  • Criminal network mapping
  • Predictive policing
  • Operational planning
  • Criminal prosecution
  • National security strategy

Globally, intelligence-led policing and forensic intelligence frameworks have proven effective in combating organized crime, terrorism, transnational criminal networks, cybercrime, and kidnapping-for-ransom operations.


Why Nigeria Needs FORINT Against Kidnapping

Kidnapping in Nigeria has become:

  • Financially motivated
  • Operationally coordinated
  • Geographically adaptive
  • Intelligence-driven
  • Network-based

Criminal groups now exploit:

  • Forest sanctuaries
  • Weak border governance
  • Telecom anonymity
  • Poor interagency coordination
  • Inadequate forensic infrastructure
  • Rural intelligence gaps

Consequently, Nigeria requires a security architecture capable of collecting, correlating, analyzing, and operationalizing intelligence rapidly and efficiently. FORINT provides this capability.


Intelligence Fusion and Interagency Coordination

One of the greatest weaknesses within Nigeria’s security ecosystem remains fragmented intelligence sharing among agencies. Effective anti-kidnapping operations require real-time collaboration among:

  • Nigeria Police Force
  • Department of State Services (DSS)
  • Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA)
  • Nigerian military
  • Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC)
  • Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU)
  • Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)

Research on intelligence-led policing in Abuja revealed that interagency distrust, rivalry, and poor information sharing significantly undermine coordinated anti-kidnapping operations.

FORINT can support:

  • National forensic intelligence fusion centers
  • Shared kidnapping databases
  • Joint criminal profiling systems
  • Integrated biometric systems
  • Multi-agency intelligence dashboards
  • Real-time operational coordination

The creation of the Multi-Agency Anti-Kidnap Fusion Cell under ONSA already demonstrates Nigeria’s gradual movement toward this intelligence-led approach.


Geospatial Intelligence and Kidnap Hotspot Mapping

Kidnapping in Nigeria follows identifiable geographical and operational patterns. High-risk kidnapping corridors currently include:

  • Abuja–Kaduna Highway
  • Lokoja–Abuja Highway
  • Birnin Gwari axis
  • Kaduna–Kano corridor
  • Niger–Kaduna forests
  • Zamfara forest belts
  • Katsina border routes
  • Benue–Nasarawa transit zones
  • Parts of the Enugu–Port Harcourt axis

FORINT utilizes Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map hotspots, escape routes, criminal hideouts, temporal attack trends, and vulnerable communities. These capabilities allow security agencies to deploy predictive patrols, establish rapid-response positioning, and disrupt criminal movement patterns before attacks occur.


Digital and Telecom Forensic Intelligence

Modern kidnappers rely heavily on mobile phones, encrypted messaging platforms, SIM cards, and digital communication systems. FORINT can support:

  • Call Data Record (CDR) analysis
  • SIM registration verification
  • IMEI tracking
  • Communication network mapping
  • Geo-location intelligence
  • Digital device exploitation

These capabilities enable investigators to identify criminal communication networks, operational coordinators, financial facilitators, and insider collaborators. Digital forensic intelligence also helps identify kidnapping syndicates operating across multiple states.


Financial Forensics and Ransom Tracking

Kidnapping in Nigeria has become an organized economic enterprise. According to reports cited by SBM Intelligence, kidnappers demanded about ₦48 billion within one year alone (Daily Post). This demonstrates the importance of financial forensic intelligence.

FORINT can help:

  • Trace ransom payments
  • Identify suspicious transactions
  • Detect money laundering patterns
  • Monitor mobile wallet transfers
  • Track cryptocurrency transactions
  • Identify criminal financiers

By disrupting the financial ecosystem sustaining kidnapping operations, authorities can weaken the operational capacity of criminal networks.


Artificial Intelligence, Predictive Analytics, and Surveillance

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can significantly strengthen forensic intelligence operations against kidnapping. AI-driven FORINT systems can analyze movement patterns, highway traffic anomalies, communication behavior, financial irregularities, seasonal attack trends, and forest movement activities.

Predictive analytics can help forecast:

  • Likely attack windows
  • Emerging hotspots
  • High-risk transit periods
  • Potential mass abduction scenarios

This transition from reactive response to predictive security is essential for Nigeria’s homeland security future.


Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Open-Source Intelligence

Natural Language Processing (NLP) refers to the branch of artificial intelligence that enables computers to analyze, interpret, and derive meaning from human language. NLP-based forensic intelligence systems can analyze social media threats, criminal communications, online extremist narratives, community distress signals, news reports, and open-source intelligence feeds.

Combined with geospatial analysis, NLP can help identify:

  • Emerging criminal trends
  • Planned attacks
  • Threat clusters
  • Recruitment patterns

Community-Centered Forensic Intelligence

Communities often possess the earliest warning indicators of criminal activities. Nigeria’s Ministry of Interior developed the N-Alert platform to enhance citizen participation in security reporting and emergency communication.

FORINT can integrate community-generated intelligence with:

  • Telecom data
  • Geospatial analysis
  • Existing criminal records
  • Behavioral intelligence
  • Digital surveillance systems

This significantly improves early warning and rapid intervention capabilities.


FORINT and Effective Prosecution of Kidnappers

One of the most important advantages of FORINT is its ability to strengthen criminal prosecution and judicial outcomes. Many kidnapping prosecutions in Nigeria fail due to weak evidence handling, poor chain-of-custody management, inadequate digital evidence presentation, lack of forensic linkage analysis, and poor interagency documentation.

FORINT capabilities can improve prosecution through:

  • Digital evidence recovery
  • Telecom forensic evidence
  • Biometric identification
  • Financial transaction tracing
  • DNA analysis
  • Behavioral linkage analysis
  • Geospatial evidence mapping
  • Integrated intelligence case files

Proper forensic intelligence integration enhances evidence credibility, prosecutorial efficiency, conviction rates, judicial confidence, and the strategic dismantling of criminal syndicates. Rather than merely arresting low-level operatives, FORINT enables law enforcement to identify entire kidnapping ecosystems, including financiers, logistics coordinators, informants, negotiators, arms suppliers, and collaborators.


Major Challenges Nigeria Must Address

Despite its enormous potential, several obstacles continue to limit effective deployment of forensic intelligence in Nigeria:

  • Interagency rivalry
  • Weak forensic infrastructure
  • Limited forensic laboratories
  • Poor intelligence integration
  • Corruption and insider leaks
  • Inadequate rural surveillance
  • Insufficient technical training
  • Limited investment in AI-driven security systems

Addressing these structural weaknesses is critical to maximizing the benefits of FORINT.


Strategic Recommendations for Nigeria

To effectively combat kidnapping using forensic intelligence, Nigeria should prioritize:

  1. National Forensic Intelligence Policy Framework
  2. Regional Anti-Kidnap Fusion Centers
  3. AI-enabled national kidnapping databases
  4. Integrated telecom-financial intelligence systems
  5. Advanced geospatial intelligence infrastructure
  6. Community-based intelligence fusion mechanisms
  7. Specialized FORINT training academies
  8. Joint interagency forensic operations
  9. Improved digital evidence legislation
  10. Modern forensic laboratories across geopolitical zones

Conclusion

Kidnapping in Nigeria is no longer simply a criminal justice problem; it is a multidimensional national security challenge involving organized crime, financial networks, intelligence failures, territorial vulnerabilities, and governance deficits.

Combating such a complex threat requires more than conventional policing. Nigeria must transition toward a proactive, intelligence-led homeland security framework powered by forensic intelligence. FORINT offers Nigeria the opportunity to move from reactive response to predictive prevention — from isolated investigations to integrated intelligence ecosystems — and from temporary disruption to sustainable dismantling of kidnapping networks.

If effectively institutionalized, forensic intelligence can become one of Nigeria’s most strategic tools for preventing abductions, protecting citizens, strengthening prosecutions, restoring public confidence, and advancing a safer homeland security architecture.

Friday, 1 May 2026

Enhancing Nigeria's Homeland Security Efforts: A Forensic Intelligence Strategic Approach

Enhancing Nigeria's Homeland Security Architecture using Forensic Intelligence


Homeland security in Nigeria can only become truly systemic when trust—not rivalry—drives interagency collaboration through shared missions, mutual respect, and consistent communication.

Modern statecraft faces a persistent, evolving threat landscape where conventional warfare boundaries have completely dissolved. In Nigeria, asymmetrical challenges—ranging from banditry and kidnapping to deep-seated insurgencies and transnational syndicates—demand a fundamental reimagining of national defense.

To permanently shift from a posture of crisis management to proactive disruption, Nigeria must refine its structural terminology, learn from global organizational frameworks, and integrate cutting-edge scientific capabilities into its internal security operations(IS-Ops).


1. Structural Evolution: Lessons from the US Homeland Security Paradigm

For decades, the United States relied heavily on legacy intelligence and law enforcement heavyweights, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), National Security Agency (NSA), and various border enforcement arms. However, the catastrophic intelligence failures of September 11, 2001, exposed a fatal systemic vulnerability: bureaucratic stovepiping.

Despite possessing fragments of critical data, these agencies functioned in institutional silos. Legal, structural, and cultural barriers prevented the fluid sharing of intelligence, leaving the nation unable to connect the dots of a complex, cross-border plot.

The creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was not meant to replace these legacy agencies, but to serve as a singular, unified enterprise focused entirely on domestic resilience. The mandate was clear:

  • Integrate 22 separate domestic agencies (including customs, border protection, and emergency management) under one roof.
  • Bridge the dangerous gap between foreign intelligence gathering and domestic law enforcement action.
  • Convert raw, disparate data into actionable, fast-time domestic protection metrics.

2. National Security vs. Homeland Security: A Crucial Categorization

To build an efficient domestic architecture, we must establish a clear, reputable distinction between two frequently conflated concepts:

Dimension National Security Homeland Security
Primary Focus Geopolitical & External Threat Management: Safeguarding the state's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and global interests through diplomacy, foreign intelligence, and military deterrence. Domestic Resilience & Protection: Safeguarding the interior population, critical infrastructure, and domestic systems from attacks, disasters, and asymmetric internal disruptions.
Core Agencies Armed Forces, Foreign Intelligence Services (e.g., Nigeria's NIA), Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Law Enforcement, Border Control, Civil Defense, Domestic Intelligence (e.g., Nigeria's DSS).
Operational Sphere Primarily outward-facing; managing state-on-state dynamics and foreign threat actors. Inward-facing; preventing internal attacks, managing border points, and assuring continuity of government.

The Subnational Manifestation: Nigeria's State Internal Security Ministries

This structural pivot is already yielding results at the subnational level in Nigeria. Recognizing that conventional federal policing is often stretched thin, several state governments have carved out specialized Ministries of Internal Security and Home Affairs.

A prime example is the Kaduna State Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs (and its evolved "Kaduna Peace Model"). Rather than attempting to usurp the statutory duties of federal forces, these ministries act as centralized coordination layers within the existing state security architecture. Their assigned functions include:

  • Facilitating real-time intelligence fusion between the Military, Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria Police, and Civil Defense (NSCDC).
  • Directing and deploying state-managed grassroots initiatives, such as recruiting and equipping over 7,000 local vigilantes to provide essential human intelligence (HUMINT) from hard-to-reach communities.
  • Deploying specialized state-level joint operations, such as Operation Fushin-Kada.

The Gains: In Kaduna, this institutional approach has successfully converted fragmented communal reporting into rapid kinetic intercepts. By synchronizing state-purchased mobility assets (such as modern tactical vehicles and motorcycles) with federal intelligence feeds, the ministry has significantly improved response times against banditry corridors, rebuilt public confidence, and effectively linked security interventions with rural socio-economic development.


3. Introducing Forensic Intelligence (FOR-INT)

No security architecture can achieve maximum efficacy through kinetic force alone. To systematically dismantle criminal networks, Nigeria must champion the deployment of Forensic Intelligence (FOR-INT).

Definition: Forensic Intelligence is the systematic, proactive processing and analysis of physical and digital crime scene data—not merely to secure a reactive conviction in a single courtroom trial, but to uncover links across disparate crimes, identify trends, map out illicit supply networks, and provide predictive insights for active tactical operations.

Global Evidence: The UK's National Ballistic Intelligence Service (NABIS)

The transformative power of FOR-INT is thoroughly documented on the global stage. In the United Kingdom, the National Ballistic Intelligence Service (NABIS) revolutionized the fight against gun-enabled crime.

By utilizing automated ballistic identification systems (ABIS) to instantly analyze recovered firearms and cartridge casings, NABIS allows law enforcement to treat the weapon itself as an intelligence asset. If a firearm is discharged in a street-level gang dispute in Manchester and later recovered in London, NABIS instantly links the microscopic ballistic signatures. This proactive approach provides investigators with an immediate, cross-jurisdictional network map, contributing to a 50% reduction in UK firearms crime within its first six years of implementation.


4. Developing and Fusing Nigeria's FOR-INT Pillars

Nigeria does not need to build its forensic infrastructure entirely from scratch. Instead, it must modernize, scale, and fuse its existing facilities—such as the Nigeria Police Forensic Laboratory in Alagbon, Lagos, and its various annexes in Abuja—into a unified, highly advanced FOR-INT ecosystem.

[Field Operation / Crime Scene] ──> [Unified FOR-INT Data Layer] ──> [Tactical & Judicial Disruption]
                                          │
         ┌─────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┐
         ▼ ▼ ▼
[Ballistics & DNA] [Digital Forensics] [Geo-Forensics]

To optimize the internal operations of our law enforcement and military Joint Task Forces (JTFs), the state must strengthen and integrate six core capabilities:

  • I. Ballistics & Weapon Tracking: Establishing an automated, centralized ballistic tracking registry. Every firearm recovered from neutralized bandits or captured insurgents must undergo micro-ballistic scanning. Much like the US National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), scanning these fragments allows forensic teams to link multiple, seemingly unrelated attack sites to the exact same weapon supply ring, revealing the movement of illicit arms across states.
  • II. Advanced Fingerprint Systems: Transitioning from localized paper-based files to an aggressively deployed, nationwide Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). The FBI’s Next Generation Identification (NGI) system proves that rapid biometric matching at tactical checkpoints prevents high-value targets from blending back into civilian populations using forged credentials.
  • III. National DNA Indexing: Implementing a centralized DNA database derived from blast sites, abandoned insurgent camps, and recovered improvised explosive devices (IEDs). In international counter-IED operations across the Middle East, capturing touch-DNA from the internal components of detonated or disarmed devices allowed intelligence teams to identify and target master bomb-makers operating miles away from the frontline.
  • IV. Digital Forensics & Cybersecurity: Securing internal territory requires dominating both physical spaces and the digital ether. This pillar harvests and analyzes both metadata and live data from online and offline vectors (such as encrypted communication applications, closed radicalization forums, and localized cell tower logs). By mapping out digital footprints, cybersecurity teams can pinpoint ideological funding nodes, disrupt weapon-smuggling routes coordinated via the dark web, and deploy targeted, real-time counter-narratives to intercept and neutralize pro-terrorism propaganda before it mobilizes local border communities.
  • V. Trace Evidence Analysis: Microscopic evaluation of soil residues, chemical accelerants, fibers, and organic particulates found on suspects, clothing, or vehicles. The forensic tracking of chemical signatures in global counter-narcotics operations allows investigators to trace the exact commercial production origin of precursor chemicals, shutting down supply channels before they reach refining camps.
  • VI. Geo-Forensics & Spatial Intelligence: Fusing environmental science with geographic information systems (GIS) to analyze soil properties, mineral compositions, and vegetation disturbances. Geo-forensics has been successfully deployed globally to locate clandestine mass graves, hidden supply caches, and illegal refining sites by cross-referencing unique regional mineral signatures found on the tires and boots of captured suspects with satellite anomaly data.

5. The Institutional Catalyst: An FBI-Styled Forensic Laboratory

To ensure this data turns into immediate action rather than sitting idle on lab shelves, Nigeria requires an institutional champion. The Federal Government should establish a state-of-the-art, FBI-styled forensic laboratory championed by the Ministry of Justice or the Ministry of Interior.

Rather than focusing solely on long-term judicial preparation, this dedicated facility would prioritize fast-time tactical intelligence turnaround. When field agents or JTF units recover a mobile phone, a laptop, or a weapon cache in an operational zone, the evidence would be immediately routed to this central hub. The lab's primary mandate would be to process this data within critical operational windows. This ensures that decrypted contact lists, matched ballistic links, and chemical tracking data are fed right back to the frontlines, providing vital tactical support for ongoing counterterrorism and counterinsurgency campaigns.

Driving Inter-Agency Synergy and Fusion

This laboratory would serve as the operational anchor for a broader forensic data-sharing network. Under the coordination of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), a unified forensic fusion layer must be established to link:

  1. The National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) and the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW).
  2. The core forensic laboratories of the Nigeria Police Force.
  3. Specialized mobile forensic labs operated by the Military Police and Provost Marshal units of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
  4. The intelligence and border monitoring databases of para-military services (including Customs and Immigration).

By breaking down institutional walls, a fingerprint captured by an Immigration officer at a northern border control post can be instantly matched against an IED touch-DNA profile stored by the Military Provost, immediately alerting the NCTC to an active threat matrix.


6. Securing Nigeria’s Porous Borders: Technology and Policy Solutions

No domestic security framework can succeed if its external parameters remain exposed. Nigeria's borders span thousands of miles of highly challenging terrain, characterized by unmanned pathways that facilitate the influx of foreign fighters, illegal small arms, and contraband. To secure these boundaries, Nigeria must transition away from purely static checkpoints toward a dynamic, technology-driven border management policy.

                                 [ HIGH-ALTITUDE ]
                                Satellites (Persistent Monitoring)
                                             │
                                             ▼
                                 [ MID-ALTITUDE ]
                                AI-Enabled Reconnaissance Drones
                                             │
                                             ▼
[ GROUND LAYER ] ──────────────────────────────────────────────── [ INTERCEPT LAYER ]
Smart CCTV (Thermal/AI) ──> [Automated Intrusion Alert] ──> Rapid Physical Border Patrols

The Technological & Policy Solutions

  • AI-Driven Smart CCTV & Thermal Imaging: Deploying solar-powered, high-definition camera networks equipped with edge-AI along primary border crossing points. These cameras leverage facial recognition and automated behavioral anomaly detection to instantly flag watchlisted individuals, even in zero-light environments.
  • Persistent Drone & Aerial Surveillance: Utilizing long-endurance, medium-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with synthetic aperture radar (SAR). These drones can penetrate dense cloud cover and foliage to track illegal vehicular convoys moving through unapproved pathways.
  • Satellite Monitoring & Geospatial Imagery: Partnering with space research agencies to leverage low-Earth-orbit satellite data. Algorithms can continuously scan border topographies for new structural clearings, illegal footpaths, or unusual night-time thermal signatures indicating clandestine camps.
  • Automated Intrusion Alerts & Rapid Patrols: The moment an AI drone or border sensor detects an unauthorized crossing, the system must trigger an automated alert routed directly to decentralized, highly mobile Tactical Border Patrol Units. Equipped with all-terrain vehicles and integrated communications, these units can intercept breaches within minutes of detection.

Conclusion

Enhancing Nigeria's homeland security requires a deliberate shift toward technological precision, institutional breaking of silos, and scientific excellence. By clearly defining our domestic security mandates, deploying a unified Forensic Intelligence infrastructure, and securing our borders through a combination of artificial intelligence and rapid physical intercept capabilities, Nigeria can transform fragmented field data into an ironclad shield for national defense.

Monday, 14 July 2025

A Deep Dive into Nigeria's 2025 Global Terrorism Index Ranking


The 2025 Global Terrorism Index (GTI), ranked Nigeria at position 6, two places up from 8th in 2024. This shift offers a fresh perspective on Nigeria's journey in combating this persistent threat.

Friday, 11 July 2025

(Part 2): Utilizing AI in Tackling Evolving National Security Threats Across Nigeria’s Geo-Political Zones

 Using Artificial Intelligence (AI)in Counterterrorism strategies through the office of Nigeria's National Security Adviser (ONSA)


The Conductor of the Orchestra: ONSA's Pivotal Role

This whole symphony of data, algorithms, and strategic deployment requires a masterful conductor. The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) under the leadership of the National Security Adviser (NSA) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, is the central nervous system of Nigeria's intelligence community.

Sunday, 10 January 2021

Friday, 1 January 2021

Understanding The 7 Keys To Strengthening Nigeria's Criminal Justice System (Part 1)

The latest report by the World Justice Project for 2020 showed that Nigeria is 108 out of 128 in the global ranking index on the rule of law. Nigeria is on the same level with Iran and Turkey and only ranks better than countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Guinea

Wednesday, 13 March 2019

Enhancing Nigeria's Forensic Development: What It Takes


Nigerian Forensic Capabilities Development
Even though, Nigeria is beginning to accept forensic evidence in some of its judicial procedures, an established framework to implement forensic methods at the core of its criminal and civil investigations is still lacking.