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Chardon Police online with computer forensicsApr 08, 2011 (The News-Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Chardon Police Department is about to go more high-tech. The 17-officer agency in semirural Geauga County will be adding computer forensics to its repertoire this year. Five-year officer Chuck Pirnat recently was trained in this specialization -- pertaining to recovery of electronic evidence found in computers and digital storage media -- and will be putting it to use once the $13,100 worth of equipment has arrived. "It's a tool that will help us when we go to look at someone doing crimes on computers (like) child pornography," Chief Tim McKenna said. "I can see it being used in a vast number of investigations. ... It's just the wave of the future, crimes on computers." Unitl now, Chardon and most other area departments relied on outside agencies, such as the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation in Richfield, for digital forensics. "A high percentage of crimes involve some form of electronic evidence," said Pirnat, who was trained via a three-week, grant-funded course offered by the National White Collar Crime Center. "This evidence is currently being overlooked by many agencies in the law enforcement field -- geographic location information contained in cellular phones, meta data in picture files, recovery of deleted and or hidden files on computer systems, just to mention a few. "Currently, the labs at the federal and state level are overwhelmed with the amount of digital evidence being submitted to their agencies. This training and equipment will give us the unique ability to process this evidence in-house." Prior to his nine years in law enforcement -- including time with Timberlake, Painesville and Mentor-on-the-Lake police departments -- Pirnat acquired experience in the information technology field. It is coming in handy now. "People leave a digital fingerprint throughout the day -- cellphones, digital cameras, walking past video systems," he said. "In our job, it will help us collect evidence against the bad guy; it will put them at certain places at certain times. ... It's not typically something a layman can do." Mentor is one of few departments in the region with personnel specializing in computer forensics. Two of its 80 sworn officers -- Capt. Jeffrey Reese and Patrolman Eric Kupchik -- are certified in the field. "It has benefited us greatly," Chief Dan Llewellyn said. "We've been able to teach our first responders how to secure a computer if it's involved in a crime, so we don't disrupt it or ruin that evidence. Here, in-house, we can analyze those computers to determine if there's any evidence that can be retrieved." He noted that crime involving computers has gone up considerably. "It's another good example of our police department trying to deal with advancement in technology," he said. To see more of The News-Herald or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.news-herald.com/. Copyright (c) 2011, The News-Herald, Willoughby, Ohio Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. |