Police respond to officer’s comments on cost of metadata records

Victoria Police has issued a statement on its “number one priority” after an officer told accused mushroom murderer Erin Patterson’s trial that he had not sought certain tech records because of the expense.

Victoria Police has vowed cost will not trump solving crime when it comes to paying for metadata records.

The organisation stated that position after one of the officers who investigated accused mushroom lunch triple-killer Erin Patterson told a court that he had not sought certain tech records because of cost.

Detective Leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppinstall told the Supreme Court trial of Ms Patterson that he had been provided with a year of call-charge records for Ms Patterson’s phone but only 20 days of event-based monitoring (EBM) data.

Constable Eppinstall said the cost for a year of EBM would have run into six figures.

“My boss isn’t real keen when I spend too much money. We have to be selective and targeted,” he told a Morwell courtroom.

The comments about metadata were made during accused mushroom killer Erin Patterson’s trial. Picture: David Crosling

EBM data is the record of when a phone carries out a task requiring a data connection, such as looking for new emails or receiving a notification.

Searches become increasingly expensive as police try to drill further down into metadata. One investigator said the data searches had never been more vital.

“You couldn’t be without them. Phones are a big part of any investigation,” he said.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the community could be assured that all requests for information were in line with what was best for a criminal investigation.

“When these requests are made to support investigations into our most serious and violent crimes, solving these matters is absolutely our number one priority,” the spokeswoman said.

Forms of telecommunications data have been crucial in some of the state’s most significant criminal investigations of recent years.

It can be used as evidence of the movements of a victim or a suspect past phone towers, a contact known as a “handshake”.

It can yield who people had been communicating with prior to a crime and what they had searched for on devices.

They have been vital in the inquiry into what happened to Ballarat mum Samantha Murphy who went missing, believed murdered, in March last year.

Ballarat mum Samantha Murphy went missing last year and is believed murdered.

Murdered Brunswick woman Maryam Hamka. Supplied Victoria Police

Telecommunications data played a key role in the missing persons squad probe into the 2020 murders of high country campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay, both in terms of working out who had been in the area of the crime at the time, in tracking Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn and in pinpointing where Mr Hill’s phone had been.

A Supreme Court jury last year convicted Lynn of murdering Ms Clay.

Details of phone movements were a significant element in the trial of Comanchero bikies for the murder of Mitat Rasimi.

They were also crucial in solving the 2021 killing of Brunswick woman Maryam Hamka.

Originally published as Police respond to officer’s comments on cost of metadata records