Communications data authorities under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016
Communications data acquisition software for SPoCs and authorising officers: IPA 2016 and Automated Acquisition compliant, connected to the Home Office, the operators and IPCO.
Comms is the complete IPA (Investigatory Powers Act 2016) and AA (Automated Acquisition) compliant communications authorities management system for managing the authorisation process of requests for communications data.
GSA has worked closely with the Home Office. The solution integrates seamlessly with communication service providers via AutoAcquire and with an automated interface to the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office, and is fully compliant with the latest central service capabilities and IPCO inspectorate requirements.
Comms carries the majority of the UK’s communications data requests: more than twenty police forces, national agencies and, through a national service for councils, the local authorities, on one system with regional sharing and a national view.
AI in the application process
AI is now available within the application process: it reviews the application before it is sent to the SPoC and recommends changes for the applicant to make before submission, all with the purpose of reducing the cost of SPoCs reviewing and returning applications that should never have been submitted in the first place.
IPCO, RPM and SAAR
GSA works with IPCO, supporting remote online inspections, Record and Process Management (RPM) and the SAAR framework. Comms provides all the tools a force needs to audit and manage its communications data acquisition activity in line with the requirements of IPCO.
The entire Automated Acquisition range
With Auto-Acquire, Comms uses automated CSP lookups and published catalogues of business questions to ask the right question of the right CSP. All results from CSPs are automatically obtained and retained, adding to the intelligence value. Real time checks of the built in subscriber database automatically detect duplicate and repeat requests and intelligence cross-overs. Comms supports the entire range of Automated Acquisition features, from Lookup and Acquire through to Standardise and ReFormat.
- Lookup
- Acquire
- Standardise
- ReFormat
Automated Acquisition with the Home Office
GSA’s Automated Acquisition integration with the Home Office and the telecommunications and postal operators is one of the largest in the UK: the majority of forces make their data acquisition requests through it.
Over 50% of comms data acquisition in the UK
GSA solutions already handle over 50% of comms data acquisition in the UK. Comms is used by many police forces, agencies and authorities and has a strong customer user group. It uses web based access for organisation or region wide deployment, with a user friendly interface requiring zero training for applicants.
Protects the vulnerable
- The most effective tool to locate people in distress and the vulnerable, whether at risk from themselves or from criminal exploiters
- Communications data acquired within Comms has supported investigations and prosecutions of organised crime groups, locally and nationally
- Clear, accurate details of contacts between those who cause harm by supplying drugs, trafficking people and exploiting children
Councils, through a national service
Local authorities obtain communications data lawfully through a national single point of contact service. Councils submit their requests through Comms to that service’s SPoCs, who apply the Investigatory Powers Act safeguards and obtain the data, so a council never has to go through a police force.
Regional and national
Regional units work in Comms across their member forces and share data between them, and what is acquired is available nationally to every force on the system.
Integrations
Integrated with Forensic Analytics and Chorus
Now integrated with the Forensic Analytics CSAS suite of tools and Chorus Intelligence software, allowing the secure and auditable exchange of evidential product.
Forensic Analytics
Chorus
Where it sits
Built on the same platform
Comms runs on the same platform as every other GSA product, with the same security and the same compliance: configurable workflow, document management, audit and access control, time clocks, reporting and integration, built in from day one.
See Comms running on your own casework
Established in 1997, built with serving officers, hosted in the UK and supported from a police assured secure facility in Leicestershire.