Responding to Digital Domestic Violence

Oct. 7, 2014
Domestic violence investigations are never easy -- on anyone -- but police and victims may not have to rely solely on victim or witness statements to build their cases. More than advising victims to turn off location services and not use social media, pol

Every single police department is dealing with domestic violence in some way, either in constant responses to the same couples, or the aftermath of a violent outburst ending in aggravated assault or even homicide.

These types of incidents made national news in September, as former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was caught on elevator surveillance camera beating his wife. In the media coverage that followed the incident, Janay Rice’s acceptance of responsibility reflected the often difficult emotional dynamics which many investigators face: communications that belie an otherwise clear fact pattern.

Domestic violence investigations are never easy -- on anyone -- but police and victims may not have to rely solely on victim or witness statements to build their cases. As media outlet National Public Radio reported, just the day before the Ravens terminated Rice’s contract, its survey of more than 70 shelters across the United States revealed:

  • 85 percent of the shelters said they were protecting victims whose abusers tracked them using GPS.
  • Three-quarters said that abusers of victims using their services had used “stealth” mobile apps to remotely monitor their conversations.
  • Almost half, citing concerns over abusers being able to track victims’ locations via social media, forbid victims from using Facebook on their premises.
  • Some found that abusers were tracking victims through iPhone “gifts” they gave to their children.

More than advising victims to turn off location services and not use social media, police can use the evidence left behind on victims’ and suspects’ devices to support criminal charges.

Low-hanging fruit evidence

In cases like Rice’s, police may be able to find text messages, emails, or social media messages from suspects apologizing for assaults. Victims or witnesses may take photos or video of victims’ injuries, even if they don’t immediately report an assault to police. In some cases, they may also use these methods to invite an abuser to their home or work so that they can report him or her for violating a restraining order.

Other times, investigators can establish patterns of behavior. Text- or social media-message arguments between suspect and victim might show stalking -- on either side -- especially when paired with GPS location data. Or, heated exchanges might lead to a flashpoint with assault.

Course materials for the “Digital Technology and Domestic Violence” class, offered by NetCE, an online resource for continuing medical education, detailed a number of studies. Among them: how “one study of 339 college students found that 10% to 15% of participants had received repeated e-mails or text messages from a spouse, boy/girlfriend, or partner that were insulting, threatening, or harassing.”

Additionally, the materials stated, “In a 2010 large-scale survey study, with a random sample of [about] 4,400 children and adolescents between 11 and 18 years of age… Approximately 10.4% of the boys and 9.8% of the girls disclosed that they received a threatening message on their cell phone from their boy/girlfriend. Less than 10% stated their romantic partner posted embarrassing or humiliating information or photos in an online forum or via a cell phone.”

Drilling deeper into the mobile device

Many investigations could be solved in this way. Others, such as the kind of conversation or location monitoring the NPR survey revealed, require deeper forensic examination.

In its report, NPR detailed how mobile apps like MSpy work: “There's a really nice dashboard to organize all the information you're grabbing — and it's a lot of information, like contacts, call logs, text messages, call recordings (full recordings of entire conversations), photos, video files, and a log of every website visited by the person being stalked.”

Because apps like MSpy, as NPR notes, allow the user to “delete any visible trace of it,” only a forensic examination that delves into a smartphone’s file system can prove whether it exists on the device.

That’s not the only use for mobile spyware. Crimes that once seemed like science fiction, such as “hacking” a house, are now becoming reality. CBS News has reported that “the most vulnerable link in any smart home system is the mobile device that controls it. Now, in addition to being the key to your social media life, your cellphone could be the key to your house and every system in it.”

Therefore, a police officer who believes a seized device might contain such an app -- after interviewing a victim who doesn’t understand why an abuser can repeat entire conversations back to her/him, or constantly show up in common locations -- should be prepared to note his or her suspicions in a report.

Follow standard operating guidelines for mobile devices

As with teen dating violence, remember your best practices when dealing with mobile devices at domestic violence incidents:

  • Make sure you can preserve every mobile device to which a complainant has access.
  • Ask, and document, whether the abuser, or others, also have access to the same device(s).
  • Document what apps the victim uses to communicate, and obtain any passwords to the device and/or the apps.
  • Ask for consent to search the device, and ensure the search properly collects, preserves, and documents the evidence. Make sure the consent is written and signed. (If you cannot secure this, the Supreme Court’s Riley decision requires you to obtain a search warrant instead, absent exigency or some other exception to the Fourth Amendment.)
  • Don’t risk the potential loss of critical evidence. If the victim is in imminent danger, seize the victim’s device and, if possible, the suspect’s. Ensure the victim has a backup device to call for help if needed.
  • Use the information you find not just at face value, but also to develop leads and lines of questioning.

Mobile devices can, when properly preserved, be a wellspring of evidence that helps to reduce many of the trickier issues around domestic violence: the “he said/she said” of victim and suspect statements, or the victim who does not want -- or is not available -- to file a report.

Even when statements seem “unreal” -- even to the extent that you’re concerned that a victim or suspect may have a mental illness -- be prepared to listen, document, and identify any flags that could indicate spyware or other unusual mobile device-related activity. Domestic violence isn’t easy to address, but its new digital dimension leaves police with no choice.

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