The Benton Police Department is pleased to announce that it now has the ability to conduct its own cyber/electronic forensics examinations in-house.
Detective Ronald Davidson recently graduated from the five week Basic Computer Evidence Recovery Training held at the National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI) in Alabama. The course is designed to provide hands-on experience with computer hardware, device imaging solutions, forensic analysis tools, legal issues, and report generation for law enforcement officers performing as cyber incident responders and digital evidence examiners.
The NCFI was established in 2007 through a partnership initiative between the Department of Homeland Security, the United States Secret Service, the Alabama District Attorneys Association, the State of Alabama, and the city of Hoover. This state-of-the-art facility provides state and local law enforcement officers the training necessary to conduct basic electronic crimes investigations, respond to network intrusion incidents, and conduct computer forensics examinations.
This facility offers state and local law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges a variety of cyber related courses based on the Secret Service electronic crimes training model. All NCFI training courses are made available through funding from the Department of Homeland Security and all travel, lodging, and per diem expenses are paid for by the Department of Homeland Security at no costs to attendees. Upon completion of training, attendees are issued all computer equipment, hardware, software, manuals, and tools necessary to conduct electronic crimes investigations and forensic examinations.
This will give the BNPD the ability to speed up the investigation of electronic crimes and will substantially enhance efforts to suppress the continually evolving and increasing number of electronic crime cases affecting communities nationwide. Det. Davidson was on a four year waiting list to attend this course before an opening was available.
