Purpose Digital footprints are yet another weapon in law enforcement but have so far gained limited attention in research on police practice. Here we conduct an analyse of how a small police task force has managed to make sense of a large set of digital footprints. The aim is to increase the knowledge about the role digital footprints play and how these footprints are captured and managed during a 21st century criminal investigation.
Methodology A case study approach have been applied and the theory of sensemaking as foremost an analytical lens helping the data analysis with a goal to better understand how the police officers worked in the chosen case study.
Findings The use of large sets of digital footprints in the police investigations is a sensemaking process, and the use of digital footprints exists in two temporal structures. In the pre-arrest(1) the use of digital footprints is characterized by sensemaking, i.e. the police officers use the footprints as triggers to traditional police work to understand what is going on. In the post-arrest(2) the use of digital footprints is characterized as evidential aggregation, and analyzing and validating of digital footprints with those collected in previous temporal structure.
Value Knowledge generated from this research gives design implcations for information system that not only fulfil the needs in police practice on a general level but in the actual work of capturing and managing digital footprints. The article also provides knowledge on how digital footprints are forming police practice in 21st century.