Justice Information Sharing

This course introduces the information and techniques law enforcement personnel need to safely and methodically collect and preserve digital evidence at a crime scene. Topics include recognizing potential sources of digital evidence; planning and executing a digital evidence-based seizure; and the preservation, packaging, documentation, and transfer of digital evidence.

This course provides the advanced skills and knowledge necessary to analyze data on iOS devices (iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad) and Android devices at an advanced level. Students use forensically sound tools and techniques to analyze potential evidence, employing advanced techniques to uncover evidence potentially missed or misrepresented by commercial forensic tools. Topics include identifying potential threats to data stored on devices, using available acquisition options, accessing locked devices, and understanding the default folder structure. Core skills include analyzing artifacts such as device information, call history, voicemail, messages, web browser history, contacts, and photos. Instruction is provided on developing the "hunt" methodology for analyzing third-party applications not supported by commercial forensic tools.

This course is for officers, investigators, and analysts who encounter cell phone evidence that includes information external to the phone. Class concepts include instruction on how to request, read, and analyze call detail records from cellular providers, and how to plot cellular site locations to determine the approximate position of a suspect during a given period. No special hardware or software is required. However, this course focuses heavily on analysis; as such, a strong working knowledge of Microsoft Excel is highly recommended. Students are provided with a free copy of the National White Collar Crime Center's (NW3C) PerpHound tool, which assists in the plotting of call detail record locations.

Communities are under siege by crimes for profit. When criminals make money (regardless of method: fraud, human trafficking, drugs, counterfeit or stolen goods, cargo, identity theft, or organized retail theft), they create a shadow economy. This illicit activity competes with and erodes the economic stability of our communities. Unique research into the economic impact of the shadow economy reveals the critical need to support skilled, targeted investigations and effective prosecution. Unfortunately, there are ever-increasing efforts to decriminalize non-violent crimes. These policies are fueling the unprecedented growth of the shadow economy. In order to defend communities from this threat, investigators will require a counter-narrative to illustrate how these policies are generating more crime, propagating violence, and ultimately leading to urban decay.