The specialized training in deciphering terabytes of information from seized cell phones, computers and other forms of electronics can be overwhelming. That is why it takes a certain breed of police officers with extensive training, numerous ongoing classes, equipment, and patience to perform the tasks.
Sergeants Brian Pitt and Roger LaClair are the crux of the Wayne County Sheriff’s Computer Forensics department. Their goal is to decipher and extract evidence from cell phones and computer devices, proving the guilt or innocence of the owners.
Luckily, the U.S. Secret Service is the force with the funds that operates the facility in Hoover, Alabama that works with state and local police departments. Training can be a day or two seminar, or months-long training classes in the latest software, hardware and techniques for decoding scores of photographs, videos and text messages as possible evidence. The Secret Service offers the selected candidates not only the training, but they also supply police agencies with equipment and updates on software. Even the use of recovered drone information is taught in the sessions.
The classes, comprised of about 24 selected candidates across the country, out of 400 applicants, is not a cake-walk.
The only cost to participating police agencies is their ongoing pay. Boarding, food and tuition is all covered by the Secret Service.
No, it is not an undertaking for the faint at heart. Brian Pitt returned this past weekend from three weeks in Alabama that included intense daily class work that can run 12 hours, or more. Selected participants then are required to unscramble projects, often in teams after classes, along with personal homework in preparation of tests and class certifications.
The Secret Service requires the submission results from such classes when officers return home and begin their work in detailed reports. Failure to supply reports back to the Secret Service could lead to participants/agencies being dropped from additional classes and updates.
Brian, who has always had an interest in computers has attended 8 varied classes over the years in everything from the basics, to evidence collection and detailed analysis. He started in basic cell phone repair and analysis from cell tower signals.
LaClair, an over 30-year veteran of the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office said it was not unusual to cipher through 60 to 70 thousand pictures, or more and detailed code to extract evidence.
In some cases, multiple software levels and computers are running for hours or days to achieve the needed results. Roger admits it can be addicting to search for evidence and recalls normal days off where he comes in on his own time gathering information.
Both LaClair and Pitts emphasized that while sex crimes are their major concern, traffic accidents (where a driver may have been on a cell phone) and tracing a cell phone through numerous cell tower locations, and searching for missing persons are also an important part of the job. Drugs, burglaries, assaults, all have digital footprints.
LaClair stated that outside police agencies often refer cases to Wayne County including the recent event where a son killed his father in Livingston County.
He stated that without the training, software and updates, it could take years to break down the work to an understandable code necessary to build a case. He added that individuals with computer sense can hide behind encryptions and computer hash that can make evidence searches nearly impossible.
Then there are the companies that purposely build in encryptions and pin codes, protecting users information that must be challenged and deciphered in crime searches.
In addition, police agencies are required to get warrants from social media sites to even begin starting with online communications. The warrants have to be specific and responses can come back in as little as days, or take months. Once a warrant is responded to, the investigators may have to follow up with even more specific requests in the same case.
LaClair, who took his first Secret Service classes years ago, also took classes put on by the FBI in the early days of forensic electronic investigations. He currently splits his time 50% to 50% between electronic and pounding the pavement in police work, and has 8-10 working cases in electronic forensics. Cases where tracking data on media sites, or actual tracking of a person’s device/phone, can pinpoint their moves and locations at specific time frames. "Just about everybody has a cell phone and with GPS (Global Positioning Software) we can tell if somebody was within meters of a location," said LaClair. He added that, over the years, the Secret Service has given Wayne County close to $100,000 in equipment and software.
State Police out of Troop E in Canandaigua also have a Computer Forensics Division with Senior Investigator Derek Merrit and six investigators serving the 10 county Troop E area. They too use the Secret Service -Hoover, Alabama training center and services, dealing with over 100 cases per year.
One of the chief leads police agencies use in child sex related cases comes from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children ((NCMEC), that serves as an information clearinghouse and national resource center on issues related to victims, missing and exploited children and operates a national toll-free hotline along with extensive forensic social media site searches. 1-800-THE-LOST
