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[Posted on Thur, Jan 19 2006]
FBI-funded lab unlocks digital clues to crimesBy Kieran Nicholson
Source: Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com
January 19, 2006
Centennial - As criminals rely more on the newest technology, law enforcement is keeping pace with high-tech sleuthing.
And Colorado is in the forefront.
Federal and local officials are heralding the opening of a new computer forensics laboratory where stored, digital information from an array of devices - including cellphones, iPods, digital cameras and computers - can be unlocked by experts and presented as evidence.
"As (criminals) become more sophisticated, we have to get better and smarter at what we do," said Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates.
The Rocky Mountain Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory opened in Centennial in late October. It was unveiled to the public at an open house Wednesday.
Police officers from agencies throughout the metro area staff the lab, and federal money funds the project through the FBI.
The crime-fighting lab, which cost about $2 million to open and has a $1 million annual budget, is the 10th such operation in the country, with four more planned by the end of the year.
The first regional computer forensics lab opened in San Diego in 1999. "The criminals better watch out - we have some talented people who are going to be on their trail," said Denver Police Division Chief Dave Fisher.
Computers and other electronic devices can yield a gold mine of evidence, especially in child pornography, identity theft and fraud cases, experts said.
Police also envision the labs as a tool in the war on terrorism.
"This embodies the concepts of partnership and technology - two of the most effective weapons we have to thwart and combat acts of terrorism - while also protecting our citizens from crimes that impact their lives every day," said Kerry E. Haynes, assistant director of the FBI's Operational Technology Division.
Any police officer in Colorado or Wyoming who has seized a computer, or other type of electronic device that stores data, can ask the lab for help.
The staff is made up of officers from the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office, Aurora Police Department, Colorado district attorney offices, Douglas County Sheriff's Office, Denver Police Department and the FBI's Denver division. The FBI provides training, technical support, equipment and certification through money mandated for the program by Congress. The 17,000-square-foot Rocky Mountain lab has worked on more than 60 cases since opening, said Christopher Buechner, the lab's director.
Examiners at the lab receive 400 hours of training, at a cost of $25,000 per person, in their first year on the job.
"Education makes them very talented people," said Thomas Angle of the New Jersey Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory. "We want to take a byte - B-Y-T-E - out of crime."
[Original Article on the Denver Post web site ]