Factors influencing Swedish citizens’ willingness to provide their mobile phones to forensic examination

Abstract The willingness of victims to report crimes is declining, which leads to an increase in the dark figure of crime and undermines effective crime control. One possible reason is that victims are reluctant to report crimes if they are required to submit their digital devices for forensic examination. Today, a mobile phone holds vast amounts of information that may be valuable for police forensics experts, showing that victims’ phones could be critical in crime investigations. This interview study has investigated the factors that influence Swedish citizens’ willingness to report crimes when reporting involves surrendering their own mobile phones for forensic analysis. The study also uncovered factors that increase their willingness to report crimes under the same circumstances. The gathered data was subjected to a qualitative analysis with thematic coding, resulting in four distinct themes with 12 categories distributed among them. The analysis reveals that the primary factors affecting Swedish citizens’ willingness to report crimes are privacy concerns, with participants feeling uneasy about others accessing their private data, and anxiety over being separated from their mobile phones. Furthermore, the study yields that the most significant factors for increasing the willingness to report crimes are enhanced information and transparency from the police. Participants suggested that better understanding of the process, and increased openness would increase their willingness to report.