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07/21/03
On
July 9, the nation took another step forward in its ability
to quickly
process evidence of criminality found on computers
and other digital media. Chief of Police Ellen Hanson, Lenexa,
Kansas, served as Master of Ceremony at a Kansas City ribbon
cutting event that opened the "Heart of America" Regional
Computer Forensic Lab (RCFL) for business, a joint project
of the Kansas/Missouri FBI and state and local law enforcement
agencies. Its job: to recover data and to recover deleted,
encrypted, or damaged file information on computers that
are seized as part of investigations into terrorism, Cyber
crime, white-collar crime, organized crime, and violent and
drug-related crimes in the Kansas and Missouri region. "It
will be a powerful forensic resource for all of the law enforcement
agencies throughout the region," said FBI Special Agent
in Charge Kevin Stafford.
This is the third of
five RCFLs to open nationwide. Labs in Dallas and San Diego were opened
last year, and labs in Chicago and San Francisco are on line for 2003 openings.
All are joint efforts with federal, state, municipal, and
local agencies, and all respond to the explosion of cases
in which computer med are seized as evidence: between 1998
and 2001, this number rose nearly 650%. Next on deck: Chicago
RCFL, details to follow
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