The Department of Community Justice (DCJ) has re-located and expanded its computer forensics lab to the Multnomah County Headquarters. DCJ is one of only a handful of community corrections departments in the nation to have a dedicated forensics lab. Parole and probation officers throughout Multnomah, Clark, Columbia, Washington, and Clackamas counties have ready access to the lab services whenever they suspect that an offender under supervision is violating a condition of his/her supervision. Sometimes the offender is cleared, but other times the lab discovers computer and Internet-related crimes. Much of the focus has been on the cyber-activity of known sex offenders, monitoring the activity of domestic violence offenders, discovering identity-theft and fraud operations, and investigating instances of human trafficking, gang activity and drug involvement.
The new location boasts over 1,000 square feet of climate-controlled conditions to optimize the functioning of over 50 pieces of forensics hardware. The lab was originally established through a $500,000 federal Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant. “Multnomah County is fortunate to have access to this state-of-the-art equipment,” acknowledges Scott Taylor, DCJ Director, “It allows us to keep the community that much safer.” The lab has already examined over 648 items and processed over 22553 gigabytes of information since the grant began.
Besides hard drives, there are lots of devices for storing and hiding digital evidence. The lab has been furbished with equipment to search cell phones, DVDs, I-PODS, Blu-ray, videogame consoles like X-box or Wii, and a range of flashmedia.
For example, the lab has the compatibility equipment to search over 1,500 mobile devices on the market. The forensics team will even make house calls if there is any uncertainty about which pieces of equipment need to be scanned. “It may not always be obvious where the evidence could be hiding. Some of these offenders can have very sophisticated systems in their homes. My team will come on scene and help the parole or probation officers decide which items are important for digital evidence forensics,” reports Jeff Snyder, DCJ Forensics Lab Manager.
The lab adheres to ASCLD standards which is the highest industry standard. DCJ is also a member agency of the NW Regional Computer Forensics Lab and has assigned a task force officer to the FBI facility to further assist in local public safety efforts.