A recent graduate of Staffordshire University, Ayodele Oduola, has developed a mobile application that is now being used by more than 800 officers within Staffordshire Police to improve the handling of electronic devices during investigations.
Oduola, who graduated with distinction in MSc Software Engineering and was named Best Graduating Student in 2024, created the app as part of a project aimed at reducing delays and errors in digital evidence collection.
The app provides officers and staff with real-time guidance on how to safely and effectively process electronic devices found at crime scenes.
The application, built using Flutter and integrated with third-party libraries and APIs, features cross-platform compatibility, automatic device detection using IMEI numbers, tools to uncover hidden apps and media, capabilities to identify AI-generated content, and a cyber glossary designed for non-technical users.
Staffordshire Forensic Partnership praised the app and Oduola’s efforts in a LinkedIn post following a quarterly programme board meeting
It read: “The agenda wasn’t that full but the content and discussions around current and future work within the partnership were very much so.
“There was also time (well not quite as we ran over) for two demonstrations of ongoing work.
“One is a long running desire to create an app to support our offender management teams with the potential to lend itself as a concept to support front line staff as they navigate the digital world we live in. Its origins lie to some degree with our late friend Bob Shaw who was involved in some of the earlier developments.
“The latest version is we think a proof of concept and it was great to have Ayodele Oduola join us on Teams to do a short presentation of the work he’s done over the last 12 months and to then do an emulated demonstration of the app itself.
” Everyone present were highly complementary of Ayo’s efforts (a good deal of which have been post graduation) and meetings recently within Staffordshire Police with the teams concerned have been equally as positive.
“Now to get some internal ‘sponsorship’ to take on the future work on the app.” — Chris Noble, Staffordshire Forensic Partnership.
The app has already seen success among officers in the field, who have praised its intuitive design and performance. It is expected to significantly reduce paperwork time, increase the accuracy of digital forensics processes, and free up officers to focus on more urgent policing tasks.
As the sole developer, Oduola led a complete rebuild of the application, replacing outdated workflows with a user-focused, scalable system built on strong software engineering principles and enhanced security architecture.
Oduola’s supervisor at Staffordshire University, Professor Elhadj Benkhelifa, described him as a “future leader,” citing his technical skills and practical approach to innovation in digital technology.
The app is now under consideration for further development and wider implementation within law enforcement agencies.
(The Nation)
