For Immediate Release
September 9, 2005
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Washington D.C.
FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691
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RCFL NETWORK LAUNCHES
9 TH LABORATORY
Washington, DC -- The Northwest Regional
Computer Forensics Laboratory (NWRCFL) officially opened today in Portland,
Oregon. The NWRCFL will supply digital forensics expertise and training to
hundreds of law enforcement agencies throughout all of Oregon and southwestern
Washington. The NWRCFL is the ninth laboratory to join a national network
of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) affiliated digital evidence facilities.
Five additional RCFLs are scheduled to open by the end of 2006 in cities
around the country.
RCFLs are one-stop, full-service digital evidence
laboratories and training centers that are devoted entirely to the examination
of digital evidence in support of local, state, and federal criminal investigations,
as well as detecting and preventing acts of terrorism. The FBI's Operational
Technology Division (OTD) provides training, laboratory operating procedures
and principles, technical support, equipment, and certification to RCFL Examiner
trainees, and assumes a majority of the start-up costs, including acquisition
of the space and site build-out expenditures. Local, state and federal law
enforcement agencies partner with the FBI by assigning personnel to work
as RCFL Examiners, and have agency executives represented on the RCFL's Executive
Board, which manages the RCFL. The NWRCFL's participating agencies include
the Oregon State Police; Washington County Sheriff's Office; Multnomah County
Sheriff's Office; Portland Police Bureau; Hillsboro Police Department; Beaverton
Police Department; Gresham Police Department; and the FBI.
Kerry E. Haynes, Assistant Director of the FBI's
OTD stated, "With the opening of the NWRCFL, we have successfully extended
our reach across the Northwestern region of the country. Starting today,
hundreds of law enforcement agencies in Oregon and Washington State will
have direct access to first-class digital forensics expertise and training.
With every new RCFL, law enforcement's ability to investigate and solve a
whole range of crimes as well as the detection and prevention of terrorism
is significantly strengthened."
Digital forensics is the application of science
and engineering to the recovery of digital evidence in a legally acceptable
manner. RCFL Forensics Examiners apply their skills on a variety of digital
devices such as computers, personal digital assistants, cell phones, and
video cameras. Examiners are trained to extract information that may serve
as evidence in a criminal or terrorism investigation.
For more information about the RCFL Program, visit
their Web site on www.rcfl.gov.
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