The Coon Rapids Police Department now has the ability to handle computer forensics investigations.
Not only was the institute entirely paid by the federal government, Michael returned with $30,000 in computer hardware and software, courtesy of the federal government to conduct computer forensics.
Michael, a self-confessed computer nerd, is now able to pursue both his passions – police work and computers, he said.
He is a COPs (community oriented policing) officer in the department responsible for dealing with issues and problems in the city’s multi-housing complexes, those with four units or more.
But with the new computer equipment in his office at the police department and the computer forensics training under his belt, he is also investigating cyber crime and other offenses involving computers in conjunction with the department’s investigators, Michael said.
“Digital and electronic evidence is involved in many cases these days,” he said.
“But computer forensics needs specialized training.”
Michael is grateful to the police department administration for recognizing the importance of computer forensics and allowing him not only to apply for the U.S. Secret Service course, but also to take the training program when he was accepted, he said.
In the five weeks he was in Alabama, the city continued to pay his salary and benefit.
He found the course extremely worthwhile, Michael said.
“It was fantastic,” he said.
According to the National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI) booklet, the program’s objective is to educate law enforcement professionals in the field of computer forensics and digital handling techniques.
The institute features five high-tech classrooms, a mock courtroom, a computer forensics lab and other meeting and training areas.
“Today’s high-tech environment presents new challenges to law enforcement as cyber criminals exploit computers and the Internet to threaten our banking, financial and critical infrastructures,” the NCFI booklet states.
Michael took part in a five-week course, “Basic Computer Evidence Recovery Training,” in which he was given hands-on experience with computer hardware, device imaging solutions, forensic analysis tools, legal issues and report generation as a police officer acting as cyber incident responders and digital evidence examiners.
The first two weeks were what Michael called the “nitty gritty” of how to operate the equipment, then the final three weeks provided the hands-on training on computer forensics techniques and applications, he said.
Being accepted for the institute is not easy. The program is offered nationwide just three times a year and only 24 people can take the course at any one time.
Michael submitted his application to the regional U.S. Secret Service office in the Twin Cities, which covers Minnesota and the Dakotas.
Put on a waiting list, Michael was told that only one applicant had been accepted from the region in the past five years, he said.
But the institute organizers have opened up the program to make it available to all law enforcement agencies in the country, not just a select few as was the case in the past, Michael said.
Still, Michael was not anticipating getting the opportunity to go this year.
However, when an opening appeared for this region to send a law enforcement officer to the institute this past summer, those ahead of Michael on the waiting list were not available to go.
The Coon Rapids Police Department administration gave Michael the green light to attend.
“Everything fell into place,” Michael said. “The department saw this as a real need.”
Michael was in Alabama at the institute July 11 through Aug. 12.
And the $30,000 in computer hardware and software the department received at no cost for him attending the course was “everything I need for computer forensics,” Michael said.
The equipment includes a laptop and tool kits that Michael can take with him to crime scenes to collect evidence, he said.
Since he has been back, he has provided computer forensics investigations in a number of cases, including child pornography, burglaries and thefts involving computers and identity theft, according to Michael.
“We have also been able to identify and return stolen property to their owners,” Michael said.
The computer equipment that the federal government paid for also has built-in safety devices and protocols that prevent evidence contamination, he said.
And the system also has a feature in which backup drives will repair a drive that might go bad without any loss of data, Michael said.
In addition, the equipment enables Michael to lift evidence not only from computers, but also digital evidence from phones and GPS units, he said.
Having the computer capability in-house enables the department to process digital and electronic evidence in cases much faster, according to Michael.
That’s because both the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office Forensic Lab and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) lab have backlogs of cases for which they have to process evidence, Michael said.
According to Police Chief Brad Wise, having computer forensic capability within the department is important because the “bulk of the crimes we really want to address involve young people” and they generally use technology to communicate.
The department also has the ability now in-house to provide evidence to the court in such cases as stolen property where the criminals will often use the Internet to try and sell the property
Source:http://abcnewspapers.com/2011/10/27/coon-rapids-pd-battling-cyber-crimes/
